PARIS, October, 1805.
MY LORD:--The insatiable avarice of all the members of the Bonaparte
family has already and frequently been mentioned; some of our
philosophers, however, pretend that ambition and vanity exclude from the
mind of Napoleon Bonaparte the passion of covetousness; that he pillages
only to get money to pay his military plunderers, and hoards treasures
only to purchase slaves, or to recompense the associates and instruments
of his authority.
Whether their assertions be just or not, I will not take upon myself to
decide; but to judge from the great number of Imperial and royal palaces,
from the great augmentation of the Imperial and royal domains; from the
immense and valuable quantity of diamonds, jewels, pictures, statues,
libraries, museums, etc., disinterestedness and self-denial are certainly
not among Napoleon’s virtues.
In France, he not only disposes of all the former palaces and extensive
demesnes of our King, but has greatly increased them, by national.
property and by lands and estates bought by the Imperial Treasury, or
confiscated by Imperial decrees. In Italy, he has, by an official act,
declared to be the property of his crown, first, the royal palace at
Milan, and a royal villa, which he now calls Villa Bonaparte; second, the
palace of Monza and its dependencies; third, the palace of Mantua, the
palace of The, and the ci-devant ducal palace of Modena; fourth, a palace
situated in the vicinity of Brescia, and another palace in the vicinity
of Bologna; fifth, the ci-devant ducal palaces of Parma and Placenza;
sixth, the beautiful forest of Tesin. Ten millions were, besides,
ordered to be drawn out of the Royal Treasury at Milan to purchase lands
for the formation of a park, pleasure-grounds, etc.
To these are added all the royal palaces and domains of the former Kings
of Sardinia, of the Dukes of Brabant, of the Counts of Flanders, of the
German Electors, Princes, Dukes, Counts, Barons, etc., who, before the
last war, were Sovereigns on the right bank of the Rhine. I have seen a
list, according to which the number of palaces and chateaux appertaining
to Napoleon as Emperor and King, are stated to be seventy-nine; so that
he may change his habitations six times in the month, without occupying
during the same year the same palace, and, nevertheless, always sleep at
home.
In this number are not included the private chateaux and estates of the
Empress, or those of the Princes and Princesses Bonaparte. Madame
Napoleon has purchased, since her husband’s consulate, in her own name,
or in the name of her children, nine estates with their chateaux, four
national forests, and six hotels at Paris. Joseph Bonaparte possesses
four estates and chateaux in France, three hotels at Paris and at
Brussels, three chateaux and estates in Italy, and one hotel at Milan,
and another at Turin. Lucien Bonaparte has now remaining only one hotel
at Paris, another at Bonne, and a third at Chambery. He has one estate
in Burgundy, two in Languedoc, and one in the vicinity of this capital.
At Bologna, Ferrara, Florence, and Rome, he has his own hotels, and in
the Papal States he has obtained, in exchange for property in France,
three chateaux with their dependencies. Louis Bonaparte has three hotels
at Paris, one at Cologne, one at Strasburg, and one at Lyons. He has two
estates in Flanders, three in Burgundy, one in Franche-Comte, and another
in Alsace. He has also a chateau four leagues from this city. At Genoa
he has a beautiful hotel, and upon the Genoese territory a large estate.
He has bought three plantations at Martinico, and two at Guadeloupe. To
Jerome Bonaparte has hitherto been presented only an estate in Brabant,
and a hotel in this capital. Some of the former domains of the House of
Orange, in the Batavian Republic, have been purchased by the agents of
our Government, and are said to be intended for him.
But, while Napoleon Bonaparte has thus heaped wealth on his wife and his
brothers, his mother and sisters have not been neglected or left
unprovided for. Madame Bonaparte, his mother, has one hotel at Paris,
one at Turin, one at Milan, and one at Rome. Her estates in France are
four, and in Italy two. Madame Bacciochi, Princess of Piombino and
Lucca, possesses two hotels in this capital, and one palace at Piombino
and another at Lucca. Of her estates in France, she has only retained
two, but she has three in the Kingdom of Italy, and four in her husband’s
and her own dominions. The Princess Santa Cruce possesses one hotel at
Rome and four chateaux in the papal territory. At Milan she has, as well
as at Turin and at Paris, hotels given her by her Imperial brother,
together with two estates in France, one in Piedmont, and two in
Lombardy. The Princesse Murat is mistress of two hotels here, one at
Brussels, one at Tours, and one at Bordeaux, together with three estates
on this, and five on the other side of the Alps. The Princesse Borghese
has purchased three plantations at Guadeloupe, and two at Martinico, with
a part of the treasures left her by her first husband, Leclerc. With her
present husband she received two palaces at Rome, and three estates on
the Roman territory; and her Imperial brother has presented her with one
hotel at Paris, one at Cologne, one at Turin, and one at Genoa, together
with three estates in France and five in Italy. For his mother, and for
each of his sisters, Napoleon has also purchased estates, or lands to
form estates, in their native island of Corsica.
The other near or distant relatives of the Emperor and King have also
experienced his bounty. Cardinal Fesch has his hotels at Paris, Milan,
Lyons, Turin, and Rome; with estates both in France and Italy. Seventeen,
either first, second, or third cousins, by his father’s or mother’s side,
have all obtained estates either in the French Empire, or in the Kingdom
of Italy, as well as all brothers, sisters, or cousins of his own wife,
and the wives of his brothers, or of the husbands of his sisters. Their
exact number cannot well be known, but a gentleman who has long been
collecting materials for some future history of the House of Bonaparte,
and of the French Empire, has already shown me sixty-six names of
individuals of that description, and of both sexes, who all, thanks to
the Imperial liberality, have suddenly and unexpectedly become people of
property.
When you consider that all these immense riches have been seized and
distributed within the short period of five years, it is not hazardous to
say that, in the annals of Europe, another such revolution in property,
as well as in power, is not to be found.
The wealth of the families of all other Sovereigns taken together does
not amount to half the value of what the Bonapartes have acquired and
possess.
Your country, more than any other upon earth, has to be alarmed at this
revolution of property. Richer than any other nation, you have more to
apprehend; besides, it threatens you more, both as our frequent enemies
and as our national rivals; as a barrier against our plans of universal
dominion, and as our superiors in pecuniary resources. May we never live
to see the day when the mandates of Bonaparte or Talleyrand are honoured
at London, as at Amsterdam, Madrid, Milan, and Rome. The misery of ages
to come will then be certain, and posterity will regard as comparative
happiness, the sufferings of their forefathers. It is not probable that
those who have so successfully pillaged all surrounding States will rest
contented until you are involved in the same ruin. Union among
yourselves only can preserve you from perishing in the universal wreck;
by this you will at least gain time, and may hope to profit by probable
changes and unexpected accidents.