PARIS, August, 1805.
MY LORD:--I believe I have before remarked that, under the Government of
Bonaparte, causes relatively the most insignificant have frequently
produced effects of the greatest consequence. A capricious or whimsical
character, swaying with unlimited power, is certainly the most dangerous
guardian of the prerogatives of sovereignty, as well as of the rights and
liberties of the people. That Bonaparte is as vain and fickle as a
coquette, as obstinate as a mule, and equally audacious and unrelenting,
every one who has witnessed his actions or meditated on his transactions
must be convinced. The least opposition irritates his pride, and he
determines and commands, in a moment of impatience or vivacity, what may
cause the misery of millions for ages, and, perhaps, his own repentance
for years.
When Bonaparte was officially informed by his Ambassador at Vienna, the
young La Rochefoucauld, that the Emperor of Germany had declined being
one of his grand officers of the Legion of Honour, he flew into a rage,
and used against this Prince the most gross, vulgar, and unbecoming
language. I have heard it said that he went so far as to say, “Well,
Francis II. is tired of reigning. I hope to have strength enough to
carry a third crown. He who dares refuse to be and continue my equal,
shall soon, as a vassal, think himself honoured with the regard which, as
a master, I may condescend, from compassion, to bestow on him.” Though
forty-eight hours had elapsed after this furious sally before he met with
the Austrian Ambassador, Count Von Cobenzl, his passion was still so
furious, that, observing his grossness and violence, all the members of
the diplomatic corps trembled, both for this their respected member, and
for the honour of our nation thus represented.
When the diplomatic audience was over, he said to Talleyrand, in a
commanding and harsh tone of voice, in the presence of all his
aides-de-camp and generals:
“Write this afternoon, by an extraordinary courier, to my Minister at
Genoa, Salicetti, to prepare the Doge and the people for the immediate
incorporation of the Ligurian Republic with my Empire. Should Austria
dare to murmur, I shall, within three months, also incorporate the
ci-devant Republic of Venice with my Kingdom of Italy!”
“But--but--Sire!” uttered the Minister, trembling.
“There exists no ‘but,’ and I will listen to no ‘but,’” interrupted His
Majesty. “Obey my orders without further discussions. Should Austria
dare to arm, I shall, before next Christmas, make Vienna the headquarters
of a fiftieth military division. In an hour I expect you with the
despatches ready for Salicetti.”
This Salicetti is a Corsican of a respectable family, born at Bastia, in
1758, and it was he who, during the siege of Toulon in 1793, introduced
his countryman, Napoleon Bonaparte, his present Sovereign, to the
acquaintance of Barras, an occurrence which has since produced
consequences so terribly notorious.
Before the Revolution an advocate of the superior council of Corsica, he
was elected a member to the First National Assembly, where, on the 30th
of November, 1789, he pressed the decree which declared the Island of
Corsica an integral part of the French monarchy. In 1792, he was sent by
his fellow citizens as a deputy to the National Convention, where he
joined the terrorist faction, and voted for the death of his King. In
May, 1793, he was in Corsica, and violently opposed the partisans of
General Paoli. Obliged to make his escape in August from that island, to
save himself, he joined the army of General Carteaux, then marching
against the Marseilles insurgents, whence he was sent by the National
Convention with Barras, Gasparin, Robespierre the younger, and Ricrod, as
a representative of the people, to the army before Toulon, where, as well
as at Marseilles, he shared in all the atrocities committed by his
colleagues and by Bonaparte; for which, after the death of the
Robespierres, he was arrested with him as a terrorist.
He had not known Bonaparte much in Corsica, but, finding him and his
family in great distress, with all other Corsican refugees, and observing
his adroitness as a captain of artillery, he recommended him to Barras,
and upon their representation to the Committee of Public Safety, he was
promoted to a chef de brigade, or colonel. In 1796, when Barras gave
Bonaparte the command of the army of Italy, Salicetti was appointed a
Commissary of Government to the same army, and in that capacity behaved
with the greatest insolence towards all the Princes of Italy, and most so
towards the Duke of Modena, with whom he and Bonaparte signed a treaty of
neutrality, for which they received a large sum in ready money; but
shortly afterwards the duchy was again invaded, and an attempt made to
surprise and seize the Duke. In 1797 he was chosen a member of the
Council of Five Hundred, where he always continued a supporter of violent
measures.
When, in 1799, his former protege, Bonaparte, was proclaimed a First
Consul, Salicetti desired to be placed in the Conservative Senate; but
his familiarity displeased Napoleon, who made him first a commercial
agent, and afterwards a Minister to the Ligurian Republic, so as to keep
him at a distance. During his several missions, he has amassed a
fortune, calculated, at the lowest, of six millions of livres.
The order Salicetti received to prepare the incorporation of Genoa with
France, would not, without the presence of our troops, have been very
easy to execute, particularly as he, six months before, had prevailed on
the Doge and the Senate to resign all sovereignty to Lucien Bonaparte,
under the title of a Grand Duke of Genoa.
The cause of Napoleon’s change of opinion with regard to his brother
Lucien, was that the latter would not separate from a wife he loved, but
preferred domestic happiness to external splendour frequently accompanied
with internal misery. So that this act of incorporation of the Ligurian
Republic, in fact, originated, notwithstanding the great and deep
calculations of our profound politicians and political schemers, in
nothing else but in the keeping of a wife, and in the refusal of a
riband.
That corruption, seduction, and menaces seconded the intrigues and
bayonets which convinced the Ligurian Government of the honour and
advantage of becoming subjects of Bonaparte, I have not the least doubt;
but that the Doge, Girolamo Durazzo, and the senators Morchio, Maglione,
Travega, Maghella, Roggieri, Taddei, Balby, and Langlade sold the
independence of their country for ten millions of livres--though it has
been positively asserted, I can hardly believe; and, indeed, money was as
little necessary as resistance would have been unavailing, all the forts
and strong positions being in the occupation of our troops. A general
officer present when the Doge of Genoa, at the head of the Ligurian
deputation, offered Bonaparte their homage at Milan, and exchanged
liberty for bondage, assured me that this ci-devant chief magistrate
spoke with a faltering voice and with tears in his eyes, and that
indignation was read on the countenance of every member of the deputation
thus forced to prostitute their rights as citizens, and to vilify their
sentiments as patriots.
When Salicetti, with his secretary, Milhaud, had arranged this honourable
affair, they set out from Genoa to announce to Bonaparte, at Milan, their
success. Not above a league from the former city their carriage was
stopped, their persons stripped, and their papers and effects seized by a
gang, called in the country the gang of PATRIOTIC ROBBERS, commanded by
Mulieno. This chief is a descendant of a good Genoese family, proscribed
by France, and the men under him are all above the common class of
people. They never commit any murders, nor do they rob any but
Frenchmen, or Italians known to be adherents of the French party. Their
spoils they distribute among those of their countrymen who, like
themselves, have suffered from the revolutions in Italy within these last
nine years. They usually send the amount destined to relieve these
persons to the curates of the several parishes, signifying in what manner
it is to be employed. Their conduct has procured them many friends among
the low and the poor, and, though frequently pursued by our gendarmes,
they have hitherto always escaped. The papers captured by them on this
occasion from Salicetti are said to be of a most curious nature, and
throw great light on Bonaparte’s future views of Italy. The original act
of consent of the Ligurian Government to the incorporation with France
was also in this number. It is reported that they were deposited with
the Austrian Minister at Genoa, who found means to forward them to his
Court; and it is supposed that their contents did not a little to hasten
the present movements of the Emperor of Germany.
Another gang, known under the appellation of the PATRIOTIC AVENGERS, also
desolates the Ligurian Republic. They never rob, but always murder those
whom they consider as enemies of their country. Many of our officers,
and even our sentries on duty, have been wounded or killed by them; and,
after dark, therefore, no Frenchman dares walk out unattended. Their
chief is supposed to be a ci-devant Abbe, Sagati, considered a political
as well as a religious fanatic. In consequence of the deeds of these
patriotic avengers, Bonaparte’s first act, as a Sovereign of Liguria, was
the establishment of special military commissions, and a law prohibiting,
under pain of death, every person from carrying arms who could not show a
written permission of our commissary of police. Robbers and assassins
are, unfortunately, common to all nations, and all people of all ages;
but those of the above description are only the production and progeny of
revolutionary and troublesome times. They pride themselves, instead of
violating the laws, on supplying their inefficacy and counteracting their
partiality.