THE DIVORCE (1809-1810).
On his return to France, after the peace of Vienna, the Emperor Napoleon,
though triumphant and all-powerful to those who looked only on the
surface, felt secretly conscious that his supreme prestige had been
shaken. He experienced the necessity of strengthening and consolidating
his conquests by some startling act, and of finally founding upon
immovable bases that empire which he had raised by his victorious hands
without ever believing it really permanent. The advances made at Erfurt
towards a family alliance with the Emperor of Russia remained without any
result, in spite of the friendly protestations of the Emperor Alexander;
and since Napoleon's return to Paris those admitted to his closest
intimacy detected a perceptible change in his manner. "He seemed to be
walking in the midst of his glory," wrote the Arch-chancellor Cambacérès.
It was to him that Napoleon first broached the project of divorce, which
was soon to become a settled determination. The loving tone in which he
wrote to her as his wife might well deceive the Empress Josephine; for
Napoleon still retained some love for her, though it was powerless in
hindering his ambitious resolutions. The rumor of the great event was
already spreading in Paris and Europe, though Josephine was still unaware
of it. She was uneasy, however, and numerous indications daily increased
her anxiety: her children shared her apprehension. The whole of the
imperial family were assembled about their renowned head, divided as they
were in their inclinations and interests; and Napoleon had himself
summoned Prince Eugène to Paris.
Under the emperor's order, Champagny had already written to Caulaincourt:
"You will wait upon the Emperor Alexander, and speak to him in these
terms: 'Sire, I have reason to believe that the emperor, at the request of
the whole of France, is making arrangements for a divorce. May I write to
say that they can reckon on your sister? Let your Majesty take two days to
consider it, and give me frankly your reply, not as French ambassador, but
as a man warmly devoted to both families. It is not a formal request that
I now make; it is a confidential expression of your intentions that I beg
from you. I am too much accustomed to tell your Majesty all my thoughts to
be afraid of ever being compromised by you.'"
Caulaincourt was greatly perplexed. The peace of Vienna had been badly
received at St. Petersburg, and had caused so many complaints and
recriminations that the French ambassador found himself compelled to
appease the irritation which threatened to break the alliance, by
translating Napoleon's promises into official engagements. The terms of
the convention were agreed upon by the diplomatists, and it was about to
be signed. Napoleon engaged never to re-establish the kingdom of Poland;
the names Poland and Polish were to disappear in all the acts; the grand
duchy could not for the future be increased by annexing any part of the
old Polish monarchy: the conditions of the convention were binding upon
the King of Saxony, Grand Duke of Warsaw. At the same time that he was
begged to accept this unsuitable engagement, Napoleon had harshly reminded
his ally of the inaction of his forces during the war. "I wish," said he,
"that in the discussions which take place, the Duke of Vicentia should
make the following remarks to Romanzoff: 'You are sensible that there is
nothing of the past that the emperor has laid hold of: in the affairs of
Austria you made no sign. How has the emperor acted? He has given you a
province which more than repays all the expense you have incurred for the
war; and openly declares that you have joined to your empire Finland,
Moldavia, and Wallachia.'"
However delicate the circumstances and question were which Caulaincourt
had to propose, he obeyed. The Emperor Alexander was not disinclined to
listen to the proposals, but would have preferred first to make sure of
the signature to the convention relative to Poland as the price of his
acceptance. The empress mother, dissatisfied and spiteful, suggested
religious objections. The kind considerations of Napoleon seemed
boundless. The Emperor Alexander and his advisers asked time to consider.
Meantime the projected divorce had become known in Paris, even in the
bosom of the imperial family. Napoleon could not longer keep his secret.
In presence of the vague uneasiness of the empress his mind was burdened
with some feeling of remorse for the act which he was secretly meditating,
and he at last gave her some hint of his intention, as well as of the
reasons for his decision, and the pain it had caused him. The unhappy
Josephine screamed, and fell fainting. When she recovered consciousness,
she was supported by her daughter the Queen of Holland, who was also in
tears, and proudly offended at the harshness which Napoleon had shown her
in the first moment of his anger at the sight of Josephine's sufferings.
Soon moved by the return of better and truer sentiments which still
exercised a certain influence upon him, the emperor shared the sorrows of
the mother and daughter, without for a moment relaxing by word or thought
the determination which he had formed. Prince Eugène, as well as Queen
Hortense, had declared their intentions of following their mother in her
retirement; Napoleon opposed it, and overwhelmed with presents and favors
the wife whom he was forsaking for reasons of state. Two days after
solemnly breaking the tie by which they were united, he wrote to her at
Malmaison, with much genuine affection in spite of his strange and
imperious style:--"My dear, you seem to me to-day weaker than you ought to
be. You showed courage, and you will do so again in order to support
yourself. You must not let yourself sink into a fatal melancholy. You must
be happy, and, before everything, take care of your health, which is so
precious to me. If you are fond of me and love me, you ought to show some
energy, and make yourself happy. You understand my sentiments towards you
very imperfectly, if you imagine that I can be happy when you are not so,
and satisfied when you are still anxious. Good-bye, darling; pleasant
dreams! Be assured that I am sincere."
The Empress Josephine had often shown a fickle character and frivolous
mind; but being kind, obliging, and gifted with a grace that had gained
her many friends before her greatness had surrounded her with courtiers
and flatterers, she was popular; and the public, who were not in favor of
the divorce, sympathized with her sorrow. On the 15th December, 1809, in a
formally summoned meeting of the imperial family, with the arch-chancellor
and Count Regnault d'Angely also present, Napoleon himself openly
announced the resolution which he had taken. "The policy of my monarchy,
the interest and wants of my peoples which have invariably guided all my
actions, require," said he, "that I should leave this throne on which
Providence has placed me, to children inheriting my love for my peoples.
For several years, however, I have lost hopes of having children by my
marriage with my well-beloved spouse the Empress Josephine, which urges me
to sacrifice the dearest affections of my heart, to consider only the
well-being of the State, and to will the dissolution of our marriage. God
knows how much such a resolution has cost my heart; but there is no
sacrifice which is beyond my courage, if proved to be useful to the well-
being of France."
The Empress Josephine wished to speak, but her voice was choked by her
tears; she handed to Count Regnault the paper evidencing her assent to the
emperor's wishes. A few words spoken by Prince Eugène, as he took his
place in the Senate, confirmed the sacrifice; and by a "senatus-consulte"
the civil marriage was formally dissolved. The religious marriage gave
rise to greater difficulty. The absence of the proper cure and of the
witnesses required by the rules of the Church served as a pretext, in
spite of the protestations of Cardinal Fesch, who had celebrated the
marriage, and declared that the Pope had granted him full dispensation.
There was no intention of consulting the pontiff on this occasion. The
emperor sent an address to the magistracy of Paris, like the meanest of
his subjects, declaring that his consent had not been complete; he had
only agreed to a useless formality with the object of tranquillising the
conscience of the empress and that of the holy father, feeling certain
since then that he must have recourse to a divorce. The scruples of the
ecclesiastics were overcome; and the religious marriage declared null by
the diocesan and metropolitan authorities. The news was inserted in the
Moniteur, together with the decree settling upon the repudiated empress a
magnificent dowry.
The reply from St. Petersburg, however, was still forthcoming, and the
emperor began to feel very angry. The King of Saxony had already made
overtures, offering the hand of his daughter to his illustrious ally; and
soon still more flattering hopes were aroused. The peace party ruled in
Vienna, Metternich having replaced Stadion in power; and some words of
Swartzenburg, the new ambassador at Paris, seemed to imply matrimonial
advances. The Archduchess Marie-Louise was eighteen years of age, amiable
and gentle in disposition: the alliance was a brilliant one, and would
permanently establish a good understanding between Austria and France.
Many intrigues were now started: those of the politicians or courtiers who
held to the old regime by tradition or taste were in favor of the Austrian
marriage; they were supported by Prince Eugène, Queen Hortense, and even
by the Empress Josephine herself, though not avowedly. The imperial family
and councillors, sprung from the French Revolution, had a repugnance to
alliance with the house of Austria, as a return towards the past, which
was still present to the minds of all: they dwelt upon the dangers of a
rupture with Russia, who would be indignant at seeing herself scorned
after being sought for. There were fewer objections on the side of
Austria, already beaten and humiliated. The emperor hesitated, and twice
consulted his most intimate council. At the second sitting his mind was
made up. The delay of Russia had stirred up his anger, and, according to
his custom, he listened only to his haughty and implacable will. Orders
were given to Caulaincourt to overthrow the negotiations respecting the
Grand Duchess Catherine. Marriage with the Archduchess Marie-Louise was
resolved upon.
The Emperor Francis showed none of the repugnance or hesitation which
irritated Napoleon against the Russians. No gloomy forecast seems to have
passed through the minds of that august family, which had formerly seen
Marie-Antoinette leave Vienna to sit at Paris upon a fatal throne. Yet all
the efforts of both the emperors tended to suggest constant analogies.
Napoleon's contract was copied from the act which united the destinies of
Louis XVI. and Marie-Antoinette. The marriage ceremonial was throughout
the same, with the redoubled splendor of an unprecedented magnificence.
The new empress had willingly accepted the throne which was offered her.
The Archduke Charles agreed to represent the Emperor Napoleon at the
celebration of the official marriage. Marshal Berthier, major-general of
the Imperial army, was appointed to go and fetch the princess. Her first
lady of honor was the Duchess of Montebello, widow of Marshal Lannes, who
was killed at Wagram. The tragical remembrances of by-gone alliances
between France and the reigning house of Austria, the bitter and
bloodstained recollections of recent struggles, seemed to serve only to
enhance the brilliancy of the new ties uniting the two countries. The
Emperor Napoleon took possession of the imperial family, as he had
recently conquered their capital and occupied their palaces. The people of
Paris thought they saw in this alliance a final and permanent triumph: and
the magnificence of the fetes given in honor of the young empress's
arrival increased their intoxication. "She brings news to the world of
peaceful days," was the inscription on all the triumphal arches.
In fact the world was hopeful but men of foresight and wisdom were not
deceived. There were germs of discord everywhere, in spite of the
appearance of peace. Fighting was still going on in Spain, and the
obstinacy of the Spanish insurgents equalled the perseverance of Sir
Arthur Wellesley. The Emperor Alexander had courteously congratulated
Caulaincourt upon the assurance of peace between Austria and France,
resulting from the projected union; at the same time not failing to point
out the contradictory negotiations simultaneously carried on by Napoleon
at St. Petersburg and Vienna. The substitution, which the emperor had just
proposed, of a new convention for the articles decided upon in the Polish
question, deeply excited the Czar's displeasure. "It is not I who shall
disturb the peace of Europe or attack any one," said he, with a keen and
determined irony; "but if they come to look for me, I shall defend
myself."
Another protestation, startling in its silence, annoyed the imperious
ruler of Europe. Most of the cardinals had been brought to Paris, not
without some threats of physical compulsion, several of them weakly hoping
to obtain important concessions. Cardinal Consalvi energetically supported
the courage of a large number, who were determined to take no part in the
emperor's religious marriage, as being illegal. They told Cardinal Fesch
of their intention, adding, that they would afterwards wait upon the
empress to be presented, but that they were bound to defend the rights of
the holy seat, injured on that occasion by the appeal pure and simple to
the magistracy of Paris. "That," said Cardinal Consalvi, "was wounding the
emperor in the apple of the eye." "They will never dare!" answered
Napoleon, angrily, when his uncle told him of the resolution of the
cardinals.
Thirteen of them dared, notwithstanding. When, on the 2nd April, 1810, the
Emperor Napoleon entered the great saloon of the Louvre, changed for that
day into a chapel, after casting his eyes over the crowd who thronged the
benches and galleries, he turned towards his chaplain, Abbé Pradt, and
said, "Where are the cardinals? I don't see any." There were, however,
fourteen there, though not enough to conceal the number of absentees.
"There are many here," replied the abbé, "and several are old and infirm."
"Ah! the idiots! the idiots!" exclaimed the emperor. He again repeated
those words when the ceremony began.
Napoleon's anger was especially directed against Cardinal Consalvi. "The
rest have their theological prejudices," said he, "but he has offended me
on political grounds; he is my enemy; he has dared to lay a trap for me by
holding out against my dynasty a pretext of illegitimacy. They will not
fail to make use of it after my death, when I am no longer there to keep
them in awe!" On the day after the marriage the whole court were to defile
before the new empress, and the cardinals were in attendance with the
utmost punctuality, as they had announced. After the distinguished
assemblage had waited three hours, an aide-de-camp came to announce the
order that the prelates who had not been present on the previous evening
in the chapel of the Louvre were to withdraw, because the emperor would
not receive them. On the same day, Napoleon wrote to M. Bigot de
Préameneu: "Several cardinals did not come yesterday, although invited, to
the ceremony of my marriage. They have, therefore, failed in an essential
duty towards me. I wish to know the names of those cardinals, and which of
them are bishops in France, in my kingdom of Italy, or in the kingdom of
Naples. My intention is to discharge them from their office, and suspend
the payment of their salaries by no longer regarding them as cardinals."
In the first impulse of his anger, Napoleon thought of summoning the rebel
prelates before a special court. "Since there is no ecclesiastical
jurisdiction in France," said he to the minister of public worship,
"nothing prevents them from being condemned." He was contented, however,
with making use only of his own supreme authority. Despoiled of the
insignia of their ecclesiastical dignity--which procured them the nickname
of the "black cardinals"--and deprived of their private fortunes as well
as of the revenues of their dioceses, which had been sequestered by the
treasury, Consalvi and his colleagues were interned, two and two, in towns
assigned to them for the purpose, put under police supervision, and
reduced to the most precarious means of living. "Without the Pope they are
nothing," said Napoleon. The Pope was still kept at Savona, meekly
inflexible, like the cardinals.
A few men thus resolutely opposed their wills to the formidable power of
the Emperor Napoleon. Just after the peace of Vienna, his hands filled
with new conquests, he modified the frontiers of several of the states
which he had recently formed or increased; some territories he yielded up,
others he took back; to some he was prodigal of his favors, to others he
denied them. He showed at this time special severity towards King Louis, a
prince who was naturally of a serious, honorable, and upright character,
and had tried sincerely to fulfil his duties as king towards the Dutch. He
thought it his duty to protect against Napoleon himself the subjects which
the latter had given him, and whom he saw ruined by the arbitrary acts of
the imperial power. When, at the end of 1809, the emperor's family all met
in Paris, King Louis had great difficulty in persuading himself to obey
the order by which he was summoned. Napoleon had already threatened
Holland in his speech at the opening of the Legislative Body. "Placed
between England and France, the principal arteries of my empire meet
there," said the emperor. "Changes will be necessary; the safety of my
frontiers, and naturally the interests of both countries, imperiously
demand it." Zealand and Brabant had not been evacuated by our troops, who
advanced there when the English took possession of the island of
Walcheren.
It was the union of Holland and France which Napoleon then intended, and
he did not conceal it from his brother. Recriminations and reproaches were
only followed by an obstinate determination. "Holland is really only a
part of France," said the minister of the interior, officially, "and it is
time she held her natural position." This determination was announced to
Louis on his arrival in Paris. "That is the most deadly blow I can inflict
upon England," said Napoleon.
The King of Holland had long and frequently cursed the imperious will
which had called him to the throne. He had extolled the charms of private
life; when abdication was, as it were, forced upon him, he drew back and
defended himself. Napoleon insisted upon having a disguised national
bankruptcy, an increase of their navy for French service alone, the strict
application of the "continental blockade," which till then had been
frequently evaded by the Dutch merchants, the rejection of the honorary
titles accepted or created by his brother for the benefit of his subjects.
King Louis struggled against such hateful conditions, implying the ruin of
his adopted country as well as of his personal authority in Holland. The
intimate relationship of the imperial family was disturbed by the
discussions carried on between the two brothers; Champagny naturally had
some share in them, and Fouché also. Napoleon seemed to become more
reasonable. Nevertheless, he wished to take advantage of the alarm he had
caused, and make its influence extend even to England. A trustworthy agent
was appointed to inform the English ministry of the impending union
between France and Holland, and the consequent danger for England; vast
armaments were said to be prepared in our harbors. Peace was the only
means of avoiding so many dangers; Holland would do herself honor by
assisting to guarantee Europe of a rest now become possible by Napoleon's
union with Marie-Louise.
Labouchère, descended from a family of French refugees, was appointed by
the emperor, in the name of King Louis, to carry these overtures to the
English cabinet. On account of the unfortunate campaign in Walcheren,
which caused universal indignation in England, Canning and Castlereagh had
been replaced in power by Perceval and the Marquis Wellesley, elder
brother of Sir Arthur, formerly governor-general of India and the intimate
friend of Pitt. He courteously received Labouchère, who was introduced by
his brother-in-law, Mr. Baring, one of the principal bankers in London. It
was not the first time that overtures of peace had reached the ministry.
On his own account, and from the incessant passion for intrigue which
seemed to haunt him everywhere, Fouché had instructed one of his agents to
make to Lord Wellesley advances which had no real aim or earnestness. To
these, as well as those, the English cabinet replied that they were firmly
resolved never to abandon Spain or the kingdom of Naples to Bonaparte.
Holland in King Louis' hands was unreservedly under French influence, and
its union to the empire conveyed no threat of danger to England, which
was, besides, well accustomed to the evils of the war, and determined to
suffer the consequences to the last. Some new overtures with reference to
modifying the continental blockade had been entrusted to Labouchère, but
they were hampered and complicated by Fouché's intrigues. The minister of
police had recently authorized Ouvrard to leave Vincennes, and employed
him in those mysterious negotiations which was soon afterwards to cost him
the confidence and favor of his master. At this time, however, it was
against the King of Holland that the anger of the latter was let loose.
The emperor had agreed to delay his projected union, thus a second time
granting his brother the honor of obedience. In accordance with his strict
demands, he resolved to rectify the frontier separating Holland from
Belgium, and by taking the Waal as the future limit to form two new French
departments on this side the river, called Bouches-du-Rhin and Bouches-de-
l'Escaut. Zealand and its islands, North Brabant, part of Guelder, and the
towns Bergen-op-Zoom, Breda, Bois-le-Duc, and Nimeguen were thus taken
away from Holland, with a population of 400,000 souls. Heavy conditions
were imposed on the commerce; and the guard of all the river mouths was
entrusted to Franco-Dutch troops under the orders of a French general.
Against this the conscience and reason of the King of Holland revolted
equally. He gave secret instructions to his ministers to fortify
Amsterdam, and forbid our troops to enter any stronghold. General Maison
found the gates of Bergen-op-Zoom shut before him.
The action was as imprudent as the resolution was honorable. At the news
of it Napoleon's violence exceeded all bounds. In accordance with the
custom which he had followed for several weeks in his communications with
his brother, with whom he was not on visiting terms, he wrote to Fouché,
at the same time sending him a letter from Rochefoucault, the French
minister in Holland:--
"I beg of you to read this letter, and call upon the King of Holland and
let him know of it. Is that prince become quite mad? You will tell him
that he has done his best to lose his kingdom, and that I shall never make
arrangements which may make such people think they have imposed upon me.
You will ask him if it is by his order that his ministers have acted, or
if it is of their own authority: and let him know that if it is by their
authority I shall have them arrested and their heads cut off, every one of
them. If they have acted by the king's order, what must I think of that
prince? And how, after that, can he think of commanding my troops, since
he has perjured his oaths?"
Any personal resistance was impossible to the unhappy king of Holland,
melancholy and obstinate, but without energy. He became afraid, and
yielded every point; his ministers were dismissed, and the strongholds
opened to the French generals. "Hitherto there has been no western
empire," wrote Louis to his terrible brother; "there is soon to be one,
apparently. Then, sire, your Majesty will be certain that I can no longer
be deceived or cause you trouble. Kindly consider that I was without
experience, in a difficult country, living from day to day. Allow me to
conjure you to forget everything. I promise you to follow faithfully all
the engagements which you may impose upon me."
King Louis set out again for Holland, after signing the conventions which
were to disgrace him in the eyes of his subjects. Only one bitter item was
spared him; he was not compelled to plead bankruptcy. Henceforth the
valuation of things taken was to take place in Paris, and the French
troops were already seizing in the annexed provinces the prohibited goods
which were stored in the warehouses; and Marshal Oudinot fixed his head-
quarters at Utrecht. On the 13th March, 1810, the emperor wrote to his
brother: "All political reasons are in favor of my joining Holland to
France. The misconduct of the men belonging to the administration made it
a law to me; but I see that it is so painful to you, that for the first
time I make my policy bend to the desire of pleasing you. At the same
time, be well assured that the principles of your administration must be
altered, and that, on the first occasion which you offer for complaint I
shall do what I am not doing now. These complaints are of two kinds, and
have as their object either the continuation of the relations of Holland
with England, or reactionary speeches and edicts which are contrary to
what I ought to expect from you. For the future your whole conduct must
tend to inculcate in the minds of the Dutch friendship for France. I
should not have taken Brabant, and I should even have increased Holland by
several millions of inhabitants, if you had acted as I had a right to
expect from my brother and a French prince. There is no remedy, however,
for the past. Let what has happened serve you for the future."
Scarcely had the King of Holland returned to his kingdom, bringing back to
his subjects the solitary consolation that their national independence was
precariously preserved, when the emperor, who was then travelling through
Belgium, came in great pomp to visit the new departments which he had just
taken from his weak neighbor. The Empress Marie-Louise, who accompanied
him, was everywhere surprised at the unprecedented display of forces and
the activity of the empire. Napoleon inspected Flushing, which had been
recently evacuated by the English; and at Breda received deputations from
all the constituted authorities, the presence of a vicar-apostolic
supplying an occasion for a violent attack upon the papacy. "Who nominated
you?" asked he. "The Pope? He has no such right in my empire. I appoint
the bishops charged with administering the Church. Render to Cæsar the
things that are Cæsar's; it is not the Pope who is Cæsar, it is I. It is
not to the Pope that God has committed the sceptre and the sword, it is to
me. I have in hand proofs that you will not obey the civil authority, that
you will not pray for me. Why? Is it because a Roman priest has
excommunicated me? But who has given him the right to do so? Who can, here
below, relieve subjects from their oath of obedience to the sovereign
instituted by the laws? Nobody. You ought to know it, if you understand
your religion. Are you ignorant of the fact that it is your culpable
pretensions which drove Luther and Calvin to separate from Rome half the
Catholic world? I also might have freed France from the Roman authority,
and forty millions of men would have followed me. I did not wish to do so,
because I believed the true principles of the Catholic religion
reconcilable with the principles of civil authority. But renounce the idea
of putting me in a convent or of shaving my head, like Louis le
Débonnaire, and submit yourselves, for I am Cæsar; if not, I will banish
you from my empire, and I will disperse you, like the Jews, over the face
of the earth."
These irregular outbursts of arbitrary will loudly proclaiming its
omnipotence were excited by the very appearance of resistance. The King of
Holland had sought to defend the interests of his subjects; the captive
chief of the Catholic Church sometimes allowed the remains of his broken
authority to appear; the most intimate counsellors of the emperor could
not always hide their disapprobation and uneasiness. Fouché had gone
further still. The emperor had in his hands proof of the intrigues in
which he had been engaged in Holland and England. When Napoleon returned
to Paris, Fouché did not present himself at the Council. "What would you
think," said the emperor, "of a minister who, abusing his position,
should, without the knowledge of his sovereign, have opened communications
with the foreigner on bases of his own invention, and thus have
compromised the policy of the State? What punishment can be inflicted on
him?" Fouché had few friends; no one, however, dared to pronounce his
doom. "M. Fouché has committed a great fault," said Talleyrand. "I should
give him a successor, but one only--M. Fouché himself." Napoleon,
dissatisfied, shrugged his shoulders, and sent away his ministers. His
decision was taken. "Your remarkable views with regard to the duties of
the minister of police do not agree with the welfare of the State," he
wrote to Fouché. "Although I do not mistrust your attachment and your
fidelity, I am, however, compelled to maintain a perpetual surveillance,
which fatigues me, and to which I ought not to be condemned. You have
never been able to understand that one may do a great deal of harm whilst
intending to do a great deal of good."
Fouché was despoiled of his dignities, and relegated to the senatorship of
Aix. General Savary, now become Duke of Rovigo, was chosen as minister of
police. Napoleon was sure of his boundless and unscrupulous devotion, as
well as of his executive ability. The decision of the emperor was ill
received by the public. "I inspired every one with terror," says the Duke
of Rovigo, in his "Memoirs;" "every one was packing up; nothing was
talked about but banishments and imprisonments, and still worse; in fact,
I believe that the news of a pestilence at some point on the coast would
not have produced more fright than my appointment to the ministry of
police." Savary succeeded to the ministry without any other resources than
his personal sagacity and the activity of the police. Fouché had destroyed
all traces of his administration. "I had not a great deal to burn, but all
that I had I have burnt," said the disgraced minister, when the emperor
sent to demand his papers. Many people breathed more freely when they
heard this news. The Duke of Otranto became popular.
Nearly at the same moment the public interest was fastened on another
rebelling personage, more worthy than Fouché of general esteem, and who
had just dealt the emperor a more perceptible stroke. New difficulties had
arisen between Napoleon and Louis Bonaparte, the vexations of the
surveillance everywhere instituted in his States, the sufferings and the
hindrances which resulted from it as regards the affairs of his subjects;
the humiliation which he himself experienced from it every moment,
exasperated the heart of King Louis. He wrote affectionately to the
ministers whom he had been forced to dismiss. To this powerless
manifestation of a natural feeling, strongly encouraged by the state of
public opinion in Holland, was added the resolution to interdict the
complete occupation of the territory by the French troops. The gates of
Haarlem were closed to the imperial eagles. The populace of the Hague ill-
treated in the street a servant of the minister of France. The emperor was
only waiting for a pretext for a long time foreseen. Marshal Oudinot
received orders to enter Haarlem and Amsterdam, with flags displayed. At
the same time, the division of General Molitor entered Holland by the
north and the south; everywhere the Netherlands found themselves occupied.
The minister of Holland at Paris, Admiral Verhuell, received his
passports.
Resistance was impossible; the councillors of King Louis felt it as
bitterly as he did himself. The king was resolved upon not accepting the
personal yoke that his brother wished to impose upon him; he signed an act
of abdication in favor of his eldest son, until then favorably treated by
the Emperor Napoleon. He committed to his ministers a touching farewell
message for the Corps Législatif, and secretly entering a carriage, on the
night of the 1st of July, 1810, he quitted Haarlem, in order to take
refuge at the baths of Töplitz. The fugitive carefully concealed his
journey and his presence; he was weary of the power which he sorrowfully
exercised; he remained esteemed and regretted in the country which he
sadly abandoned without having ever been able to defend it.
This flight from the throne, and this mute protest against the tyranny
which rendered it insupportable, caused some ill-humor in Napoleon, and
constrained him to act openly, and without the soothing forms with which
he had reckoned upon enveloping his taking possession of Holland. An
imperial decree of the 9th of July, 1810, announced to the world that
Holland was reunited to France. The abdication of King Louis in favor of
his son was treated as null and void. Rome had been declared the second
city of the empire after the confiscation of the Papal States. Amsterdam
was promoted to the third rank. Seven new departments were formed from the
territory of the Netherlands. Holland was to send six members to the
Senate of the Empire, six deputies to the Council of State, twenty-five to
the Corps Législatif, two Councillors to the Court of Cassation. The
emperor often vaunted the rare capacity of the Dutch whom he had thus
drawn into his service. The first use which he now made of his supreme
authority was to reduce the public debt from 80,000,000 to 20,000,000.
This act of bankruptcy introduced into the charges of the budget an
economy which it was thought ought to satisfy all those who had not
personally to suffer the consequences. "The Corps Législatif will be
another object of economy," wrote Napoleon, on the 23rd of July, to
Lebrun, his arch-treasurer, whom he had charged to represent him in
Holland; "the external relations will be an object of economy; the Council
of State will be an object of economy; the civil list will be still
another object of economy." The emperor had not reckoned on two
sentiments, more powerful than all others in this little country, which
had conquered its liberty at the price of so many sufferings. Its union to
France cost Holland its national independence; the bankruptcy tainted its
honor and its credit; whilst submitting to an imperious necessity, the
Dutch nation never forgot it.
The condition of Europe thus underwent, under the hand of the Emperor
Napoleon, fundamental modifications, of which he scarcely took the trouble
to inform his allies. The Emperor Alexander alone received some
explanations on the subject of the union of Holland and France. "The
Netherlands have not in reality had a change of master," Caulaincourt was
instructed to say; "it is a country of lagoons, ports, and dockyards. They
are not much known on the continent, and have no importance except for
England; the naval forces of France will be augmented by it, and the
general peace will become more easy and more certain." A few months only
were to pass away before Napoleon would complete his maritime lines of
defence, by taking possession of the coasts as far as the Weser and the
Elbe. In the month of December, 1810, a simple decree formed three French
departments [Footnote: L'Ems Supérieur, les Bouches-du-Weser, and les
Bouches-de-l'Elbe.] from the territory of the Hanseatic towns, the States
of the Prince of Oldenburg and a small portion of Hanover. In his quality
of uncle to the Emperor Alexander, the Prince of Oldenburg received the
town of Erfurt by way of indemnity. At the same time the territory of the
Valais became French, under the name of the department of the Simplon. The
former masters of the annexed countries received purely and simply a
notification of the sovereign will. Irritation was everywhere increasing;
no one resented these things more keenly than the Emperor Alexander, still
a nominal ally of France. Meanwhile he silently waited.
Quite close to Russia, in a country recently dismembered by the Emperor
Alexander with the consent of Napoleon, there was preparing at this time
an event which was soon to assure to the fifth European coalition one of
its most useful supports. The King of Sweden, Gustavus IV., unstable,
violent, and eccentric enough to warrant doubts as to the soundness of his
reason, had been deposed on the 10th of May, 1809, by the assembled
States, as the result of a military conspiracy. His uncle, the Duke of
Sudermania, elevated to the throne under the title of Charles XIII., had
no children; the Diet designated as his successor the Duke of
Augustenburg. This prince expired suddenly, in the midst of a review. The
claimants were numerous, and the King of Sweden desired to know the wish
of Napoleon. The latter secretly favored the King of Denmark, but the
States were not well disposed in his favor: the emperor refused to give a
decision. "A word from his Majesty would suffice to decide everything,"
said Désaugiers, the chargé-d'affaires at Stockholm. Some proposed to
choose a stranger, and Marshal Bernadotte was thought of. During our
occupation of Pomerania he had known how to render himself agreeable to
the population over whom he ruled, and to persons of consideration who had
known how to appreciate the vivacity and capacity of his mind. He was a
kinsman of the Bonapartes, and conspicuous amongst the lieutenants of
Napoleon. An obscure member of the Diet repaired to Paris, and knitted the
first threads of an intrigue, destined to succeed by the very fact of the
ignorance and illusions of its authors. By placing Bernadotte upon the
steps of the throne, the States of Sweden thought to assure themselves of
the good-will of the Emperor Napoleon; his name was popular amongst the
lower classes. He was proclaimed Prince Royal of Sweden 17th August, 1810.
Napoleon had delayed too long to express his mind. A messenger arrived at
Stockholm bearing despatches which emphatically disavowed the declarations
of the partisans of Bernadotte. "I cannot think," said Napoleon, "that
these individuals could have had the impudence to assert themselves to be
charged with any mission whatever." The official announcement of the
elevation of the Prince of Pontecorvo was already on its way to Paris. "I
was little prepared for this news," replied Napoleon to the letter of King
Charles XIII. He wished to wrest from Bernadotte a pledge never to bear
arms against France. The marshal formally refused. For a long time in
secret hostility to the emperor, he severely judged the errors of his
ambition, and the consequences that would result for the peace of Europe.
"Go then," said Napoleon, "and let destiny be accomplished!" On the
evening of the 18th Brumaire, Bernadotte wrote to General Bonaparte: "My
idea of liberty differs from yours, and your plan kills it. Three weeks
ago I retired; but if I receive orders from those who have still the right
to give me them, I shall resist all illegal attempts against the
established powers."
The struggle was not to be long in breaking forth between the new heir to
the throne of Sweden and the exacting master who claimed to subject all
European powers to his laws. Everywhere the questions that grew out of the
continental blockade in right as well as in practice, brought about
difficulties, and gave rise to sufferings by which all the governments
were injured. In annexing Holland to France, Napoleon had authorized,
under a duty of 50 per cent., the sale of goods of English production
which the contraband had kept stored up in their warehouses. He conceived
the idea of applying the same duty to all sales of colonial products which
until then had only been able to enter France by virtue of a special
license. All the merchandise of this kind found in store, either in the
countries dependent on the French Empire, or in foreign territories within
four hours' journey of the frontier, were suddenly affected by this tax,
and placed under the obligation of a certificate of origin (5th August,
1810). In default of this justification, the goods were seized as of
English production, and in consequence contraband. The colonial produce
was to be sold; the manufactured articles were to be everywhere burnt. In
Spain, in the Canton of Tessin, at Frankfort, in the Hanseatic towns, at
Stettin, at Custrin, at Dantzig, the troops were ordered to carry out the
searches and seizures. A few dependent or vanquished sovereigns--Saxony or
Prussia, for example--themselves consented to make the required
requisitions. The sums produced by sales made in Prussia were generously
credited by the Emperor Napoleon as deductions from the Prussian debt to
France. A director of the French Customs superintended the Swiss troops in
their inquisitions. At all points of the immense territory subjugated by
Napoleon, the merchants crowded to the markets opened for confiscated
goods, whilst every article proved to be of English manufacture was
delivered to the flames in public. "For confiscation, for expulsion from
the country, they came to substitute the punishment of burning," writes
Mollien in his Memoirs; "and the reading of the correspondence of commerce
might have convinced Napoleon what complaint the bankers and maritime
speculators were making against a policy which, in the most industrious
century, was destroying by fire the creations of industry. Until then,
however, French manufacturers had flattered themselves with being able to
supply the consumers whom English commerce was to lose by so severe a
system of prohibition; but this illusion vanished when Napoleon, seduced
by the hope of assuring to France a part in the enterprises of the
commercial monopoly of England, was seen to be putting in some sort up to
auction the right of introducing into Europe the productions of America
and India, loading several raw materials--such as cotton and wool--with
enormous duties, and, by an inexplicable contradiction, rendering to the
productions of English industry, by these very taxes, more advantages than
prohibition caused them to lose. Then this fictitious system, which was to
free the continent from the domination of English commerce, became patent
to all eyes as nothing else but the most disastrous and false of fiscal
inventions; for it was creating two monopolies in place of one--
aggravating at once the condition of the French manufacturers and that of
the speculators of all countries, and giving up the privilege of
commercial speculation to a few interested adventurers."
Hitherto the United States of America alone had protested equally against
the Emperor Napoleon's system of continental blockade and the English
ordinances. Already, for several months past, an embargo had been placed
in their ports on French and English vessels, unless driven to take refuge
in consequence of a tempest. Mistress, the one of the seas, the other of
the land, it was on the United States that both England and France
lavished their caresses, eager to enrol them in the service of their
hostile passions. For a long time the Emperor Napoleon had required the
seizure of American vessels sailing under a neutral flag, in spite of the
interdiction of their government, and this rigor had been one of the
causes of the dissensions between him and the King of Holland. In the
month of July, 1810, he made known to Congress, that on and after the 1st
of November the Americans should not be subject to the decrees of Berlin
and Milan, and that they might enter into the ports of France, provided
that they could obtain from England a revocation of the ordinances of the
Council. "In continuing to submit to them," Napoleon had formerly said,
"the peoples who are menaced by the pretensions of England would do better
to recognize her sovereignty, and America ought to press forward to return
under the yoke from which she has so gloriously delivered herself."
On its part, the English cabinet revoked the ordinances of the Council
with regard to the Americans, and relieved them of the toll by way of
harbor dues imposed on all other vessels; but it persisted in forbidding
to neutral vessels the entry into French ports, thus confirming its system
of a paper blockade. The measure was insufficient for the satisfaction of
the United States; it did little harm to that commerce and industry of
Great Britain which Napoleon strove so madly to injure by land as well as
by sea.
A sign of the discontent of the Emperor Alexander was his clearly
manifested resolution not to impose upon his subjects new and exorbitant
pecuniary sacrifices. Nearly all the European powers had accepted or
submitted to the decree of the 1st of August. "There are no true
neutrals," maintained Napoleon; "they are all English, masked under divers
flags, and bearers of false papers. They must be confiscated, and England
is lost." Russia constantly refused to yield to these entreaties. Faithful
to the law of the blockade as regards the capture of English vessels, the
Emperor Alexander authorized navigation under a neutral flag. No seizure
was effected in his States.
Sweden protested in vain. Denmark had been authorized to effect the sale
of prohibited merchandise by means of the fifty per cent. tariff; the new
Prince of Sweden begged a similar indulgence in favor of his adopted
country. The emperor, dissatisfied, was angered. "Choose," said he,
"between the cannon-balls for the English or war with France." Bernadotte
consented to commence hostilities against the English; he was without
resources, and without defences. "We offer you our arms and our iron,"
wrote he to the emperor; "give us in return the means that nature has
refused to us." Other allies were soon to accept the offers of the
illustrious marshal of the empire.
Meanwhile the months rolled past, and Napoleon did not quit Paris. He had
just contracted new ties; he was occupied with the cares necessitated by
the internal administration of the empire--with the legal creation of the
extraordinary Domain, the fruit of conquests and confiscations, and which
had already served to supply without control the divers needs of the
emperor. The very appearance of authority was thus little by little
escaping from the Corps Législatif, the retiring deputies of which had
their commissions arbitrarily prolonged. The representatives of the new
departments had been directly chosen by the Senate. The censorship had
been re-established, and its favorable decrees did not always suffice to
save works and their authors. The "Germany" of Madame de Staël had
received the authorization of the censors, when the edition was seized and
placed in the pillory. Madame de Staël was compelled to quit France in
twenty-four hours. The rigors of Savary with regard to the press surpassed
the traditions left by Fouché; the greater number of the journals were
subjected to permanent fines, under the form of pensions to literary men.
The erection of eight state prisons seemed to presage times still more
harsh; however, the emperor demanded from the Council of State, in order
to explain the motive for these erections, a couple of pages of clauses
"containing liberal ideas." He had for a long time exercised towards
France the power of words; he knew their influence and weight. More than
once, in deeds of warfare his acts had gone beyond his promises; the day
had come when he was about to promise more than he could perform. Liberal
phrases no longer concealed from the nation the yoke which crushed it. The
pompous declarations against the English leopard, hurled forth at the
opening of the session of the Corps Législatif, in December, 1809, did not
hasten the end of the war in Spain. The emperor did not set out as he had
solemnly announced. He called Marshal Masséna, scarcely recovered from his
fatigue and his wounds during the war in Germany, and confided to him the
task of vanquishing the English in Portugal. Sir Arthur Wellesley
continued to occupy his positions between Badajoz and Alcantara. Since the
battle of Talavera and the combats which then accompanied his last
movements of troops, the English general had not actively taken part in
hostilities.
The war had not, however, ceased in Spain, and the insurgents had not
diminished their efforts. General Kellermann had depicted in its true
light the particular character of the struggle, when he wrote to Marshal
Berthier: "The war in Spain is not at all an ordinary affair. Doubtless
one has not to fear reverses and disastrous checks; but this stubborn
nation wears away the army with its detailed resistance. Independently of
the regular corps, which must be faced, it is also necessary to guard
against the numerous swarms of brigands and strong organized bands, which
infest the country, and which by their mobility, and above all by the
favor of the inhabitants, escape from all pursuit, and come up behind you
a quarter of an hour after your return. It is in vain that we beat down on
one side the heads of the hydra; they reappear on the other, and without a
revolution in the minds of men you will not succeed for a long time in
subduing this vast peninsula. It will absorb the population and the
treasures of France. They wish to gain time, and to weary us by
persistency. We shall only obtain their submission by their exhaustion,
and the annihilation of half the population. Such is the spirit which
animates this nation, that one cannot even create in it a few partisans.
It is in vain to treat it with mode ration and justice; in a difficult
moment, no governor or leader whatever would find ten men who would dare
to arm for his defence. We must, then, have more men. The emperor perhaps
grows weary of sending them, but it is necessary to make an end of the
business, or to be contented with establishing ourselves in one half of
Spain in order afterwards to conquer the other. Meanwhile, resources
diminish, the means perish, money is exhausted or disappears; one knows
not where to direct one's energies to provide for the pay, for the
maintenance of the troops, for the needs of the hospitals, for the
infinite details necessary for an army in need of everything. Misery and
privations increase sickness, and enfeeble the army continually; whilst,
on the other side, the bands that swarm on all sides seize every day upon
small parties or isolated men, who venture into the open country with
extreme imprudence, notwithstanding the most positive, reiterated
prohibitions."
It was the effort of all the generals commanding in Spain to destroy the
bands of guerillas, who harassed their soldiers and slowly decimated their
armies. General Suchet had, more than any other, succeeded in Aragon;
General Gouvion St. Cyr had been absorbed by the siege of Girone, which
had at length just submitted to him when Marshal Augereau was sent into
Catalonia, in order to take from him at once his command and the glory of
his conquest. The end of the campaign of 1809 had been signalized by a
victory, gained on the 19th of November, at Ocaña, by Marshal Mortier and
General Sebastiani over the insurgent army of the centre. The central
Junta had confided its powers to a commission, at the head of which was
the Marquis de la Romana, always more active than effective. The
insurrectional government retired into the Ile de Leon, boldly convoking
the Cortes at Madrid for the 1st of March, 1810.
Marshal Soult had become major-general of the army of Spain, since Marshal
Jourdan had been recalled after the battle of Talavera; he was meditating
a great campaign against Andalusia. Napoleon hesitated to consent to it;
the English alone appeared to him to be formidable, and he had been
wishing to concentrate all his forces against them: Marshal Massena was
not, however, ready to enter on the campaign. King Joseph received the
authorization to advance upon Andalusia; he ordered, at the same time,
Marshals Ney and Suchet to lay siege to Ciudad Rodrigo and Valencia. Both
attempted operations with insufficient forces, and were to fail in an
enterprise which drew upon them the bitter reproaches of the emperor. The
army of the King of Spain advanced towards Seville; the defiles of the
Sierra Morena had been occupied without resistance by Marshal Victor. The
intestine dissensions which divided the capital of Andalusia had deprived
it of its means of defence; a great part of the population took to flight.
A few cannon, pointed from the ramparts, did not arrest for a moment the
march of the French. Marshal Soult summoned the place to surrender, and
the Junta of the province consented to capitulate. All the military chiefs
recently assembled in Seville had succeeded in escaping. King Joseph made
his entry on the 1st of February, 1810. Malaga and Granada were not long
in surrendering.
All the leaders of the insurrection were found henceforth at Cadiz; the
central Junta and its executive commission had abdicated in favor of a
royal regency. The preparations for resistance in this place, fortified on
the side of the land by man, as on the side of the sea by nature,
disquieted King Joseph, who had long been desirous of detaching a _corps
d'armée_ against Cadiz. "Assure me of Seville, and I will assure you of
Cadiz," said Marshal Soult. Now it was found necessary to guard Seville,
Granada, and Malaga; a corps of observation was being maintained before
Badajoz; the forces which were laying siege to Cadiz were necessarily
restrained; everywhere the Spanish armies were forming again.
Napoleon had been for a long time weary of the war in Spain, which he had
at first regarded as an easy enterprise; he had conceived ill-feeling
towards his brother, whom he rightly judged incapable of accomplishing the
work which he himself had been wrong in committing to his charge. The
continual demands for men and money which came to him from the peninsula
hindered his operations and his schemes; he resolved upon modifying the
organization of the government in Spain. On the 28th of January, 1810, he
wrote to the Duke of Cadore (Champagny): "Write by the express, and
several times, to the Sieur Laforest, at Madrid, in order that he may
present notes as to the impossibility of my continuing to sustain the
enormous expenses of Spain; that I have already sent there more than
300,000,000; that such considerable exportations of money exhaust France;
that it is, then, indispensable that the engineers, the artillery, the
administrations, and the soldiers' pay should be henceforth supplied from
the Spanish treasury; that all which I can do is to give a supplemental
grant of two millions per month for the soldiers' pay; that if this
proposition is not agreed to, it will only remain for me to administer the
provinces of Spain on my own account--in that case they will abundantly
supply the maintenance and pay of the army. To see the resources of this
country lost by false measures and a feeble administration, and to send
thither my best blood, is impossible. The provinces have plenty of money,
when the soldier is not paid he will pillage, and I know not what to do
with him."
It was in the midst of his joy and his easy triumph in Andalusia that the
severe protests of Napoleon arrived to surprise King Joseph. A few
liberalities he had permitted himself with regard to his servants had
succeeded in exasperating the emperor. He decreed the state of siege in
all the provinces [Footnote: Catalonia, Aragon, Navarre, and Biscay.] to
the left of the Ebro, confiding the military command to four generals--
Augereau, Suchet, Reille, and Thouvenot. All the administrative powers
were at the same time, committed to these generals, who were to correspond
directly with the emperor. The idea of Napoleon, with which he acquainted
his lieutenants, was to unite to France the territories which he thus
isolated from the rest of the empire, as an indemnity for the sacrifices
which the war had imposed upon him. General Suchet was charged with
completing the conquest of the towns in Catalonia and Aragon which were
still held by the insurgents. He achieved brilliantly the siege of Lerida.
At the same time, and in order to take away from King Joseph an authority
which he knew not how to use, the armies in the country were divided into
three corps. The army of the south was confided to Marshal Soult; the army
of Portugal was waiting for the arrival of Marshal Masséna; the army of
the centre--the least important of all--was alone left under the personal
direction of King Joseph, who was appointed its general-in-chief. The
embassies of King Joseph, the complaint of his wife, who was still in
Paris, remained without result. In place of a central, powerless, and
insufficient power, Napoleon was desirous of establishing delegates of his
supreme authority. He had sanctioned anarchy; the rights of the hierarchy
had disappeared before the lieutenants of a chief arbitrary, but until now
constantly attended by victory. Far from the presence of Napoleon, in a
country given over for two years to the disorder of civil war, obedience
had given place to mistrust, and regularity to disorder. Scarcely had
Marshal Masséna joined the army of Portugal, of which he had accepted the
command with regret, than he had immediately a perception of the
difficulties which awaited it. The emperor had given orders to commence by
the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo and of Almeida. Marshal Ney and General Junot,
whose corps were placed under the command of Masséna, made such clamorous
protests that the old marshal was obliged to display all his authority.
"They say that Masséna has grown old," cried he with just anger; "they
will see that my will has lost nothing of its force." Already Sir Arthur
Wellesley, become Lord Wellington, was preparing not far from Lisbon,
between the Tagus and the sea, that invulnerable position which history
has designated "the lines of Torres Vedras." It was thither that he
counted on drawing the French army, slowly exhausting its forces before an
enemy patiently unassailable. The orders of Napoleon, and the deference of
Masséna to these instructions, had spared us the danger of being attacked
in the rear; when the French army advanced to encounter Lord Wellington,
it had taken possession of Ciudad Rodrigo and Almeida, but the two sieges
had been long and painful, having cost the lives of many soldiers;
important garrisons occupied the places. In accordance with a mental habit
which grew upon him through default of contradiction, the Emperor Napoleon
did not admit the enfeeblement of his forces, whilst depreciating
beforehand those of his enemy. "My cousin," wrote he on the 10th of
September, 1810, to Marshal Berthier, "let a French officer set out
immediately as bearer of a letter for the Prince of Essling, in which you
will make him understand that my intention is that he should attack and
rout the English; that Lord Wellington has no more than 18,000 men, of
which only 15,000 are infantry, and the remainder cavalry and artillery;
that General Hill has no more than 6000 men, infantry and cavalry; that it
would be ridiculous for 25,000 English to hold in suspense 60,000
Frenchmen; that, by not groping about, but by attacking them openly, after
having reconnoitred them, they will be made to experience severe repulses.
The Prince of Essling has four times as many cavalry as he needs for
defeating the enemy's army. I am too far off, and the position of the
enemy changes too often, for me to be able to counsel you as to the manner
of leading the attack, but it is certain that the enemy is not in a state
to resist."
Marshal Masséna was wrong in accepting a mission of which he foresaw the
immense dangers, and in refraining from personally impressing the emperor,
by the weight of his old experience, as regards the illusions that were
prevalent in Paris on the subject of the respective situations of the two
armies. Counting upon victory on the day when he should succeed in meeting
the enemy, he became involved, with 50,000 men in the impracticable roads
of Portugal in the vicinity of Lord Wellington, already his equal in
forces, and seconded by the whole Portuguese nation in insurrection
against the French. The lieutenants of Masséna, as bold and more youthful,
estimated as he did the disastrous chances of the campaign. "Do not stand
haggling with the English," replied Napoleon. He was obeyed.
Lord Wellington remained in his retreat upon the heights of Busaco, above
the valley of Mondego, in front of Coimbra; he barred the passage to
Marshal Masséna, who resolved to give battle. After a furious and
sanguinary combat (27th of September, 1810), the attack of the French was
decisively repulsed. For the first time the Portuguese, mixed with the
English troops, had courageously sustained their allies. "They have shown
themselves worthy of fighting beside English soldiers," says Lord
Wellington in his report. The road remained closed, and the English,
masters of their position, saw already Marshal Masséna constrained to
retreat. He had recovered on the field of battle all his indomitable
ardor. "We ought to be able to turn the hills," said he to his
lieutenants, and he detached immediately General Montbrun upon the right,
to traverse an unknown country, hostile, and already enveloped in the
darkness of night. The perspicacity and perseverance of the marshal had
not been deceived; his scouts discovered a passage which the English had
not occupied. On the 29th, at sunset, Lord Wellington learnt all of a
sudden that the French army had defiled by the little village of Bazalva
upon the back of the mountain; it was already debouching upon the plain of
Coimbra, when the English saw themselves compelled to evacuate the town in
all haste: the French passed through behind them, only leaving their sick
and wounded. The Portuguese militia immediately resumed possession of the
town. Masséna advanced upon Lisbon by forced marches; on the 11th of
October he arrived before the lines of Torres Vedras, by this time
completely finished, and furnished with 600 pieces of ordnance. Behind
three successive series of formidable entrenchments, supplied with
resources of every kind, and supported on one side by the Tagus and on the
other by the ocean, Lord Wellington had resolved to shut up his army,
until then victorious, and to wait until hunger, sickness, and exhaustion
should at length deliver him from his enemies, whatever might be the
difficulties of the undertaking, and the clamors that might be raised
against him.
"I am convinced," wrote the English general to his government, "that the
honor and the interest of the country require us to remain here to the
latest possible moment, and, with the aid of Heaven, I will hold on here
as long as I can. I shall not seek to relieve myself of the burden of
responsibility by causing the burden of a defeat to rest upon the
shoulders of ministers; I will not ask from them resources which they
cannot spare, and which will not contribute perhaps in an effective manner
to the success of our enterprise; I will not again give to the weakness of
the ministry an excuse for withdrawing the army from a situation which the
honor and interest of the country compel us to guard. If the Portuguese do
their duty, I can maintain myself here; if they do not do their duty, no
effort in the power of Great Britain to make will suffice to save
Portugal; and if I am obliged to retire, I shall be in a situation to
bring away the English army with me."
It was with this firm and modest confidence in a situation that he had
prudently chosen, and of which all the resources had been multiplied by
his foresight, that Lord Wellington awaited the attack of Masséna, and the
seasoned troops who were deploying before his lines. The soldiers were
exasperated at this unforeseen obstacle raised by the hand of man, and of
which no one had penetrated the secret. "We shall succeed, as we should
have succeeded at Busaco, if we had been allowed to," said the troops.
Masséna judged otherwise.
On the 10th of October the marshal with his staff-officers examined with
care the enemy's lines; one discharge of a cannon, one only, resounded in
their ears, and the wall upon which the telescope rested was overthrown.
Masséna looked at his lieutenants. "The only thing to do is to occupy both
shores of the Tagus, and keep them and Lisbon blockaded," said he: "we
will wait for reinforcements, and when the army of Andalusia shall have
arrived we will see if, behind those cannons there, there are other
cannons and other walls, as the peasants say."
In their rigid simplicity, the conceptions of Lord Wellington had taken
little account of the sufferings of the Portuguese nation. Resolved upon
defending Portugal to the last extremity, he had left Lisbon exposed to
cannon-balls, and the country a prey to the systematic depredations of the
French. Masséna decided upon constituting a military establishment in face
of the enemy's lines. Everywhere the resources of the surrounding country
were stored in the magazines; an hospital was prepared; General Eblé, old
and fatigued, but always inexhaustible in resources, was preparing boats
in order to form a bridge. Effecting a movement in rear, Masséna and his
lieutenants occupied all the positions from Santarem to Thomar, eager to
instal themselves upon the two shores of the Tagus, to seize upon
Abrantes, and to invest the English each day more closely in their lines.
Already discontent was great in Lisbon, where provisions arrived with
difficulty. Wellington urged upon the regency of Portugal the devastation
of the country districts, and especially that of Alemtejo, the natural
resource of the French army; the Portuguese authorities resisted. "Deliver
Portugal, instead of famishing it," said they.