Napoleon's Letters To Josephine Part 66

No. 7.

Aubenas goes into ecstasies over this letter, "the longest, most eloquent, and most impa.s.sioned of the whole series" (vol. i. 322).

Facsimile of Letter dated April 24, 1796.

_June 15._--Here occurs the first gap in the correspondence, but his letters to the Directory between this date and the last letter to Josephine extant (April 24) are full of interest, including his conscientious disobedience at Cherasco, and the aura of his destiny to "ride the whirlwind and direct the storm" which first inspired him after Lodi. On April 28th was signed the armistice of Cherasco, by which his rear was secured by three strong fortresses.[44] He writes the Directory that Piedmont is at their mercy, and that in making the armistice into a definite peace he trusts they will not forget the little island of Saint-Pierre, which will be more useful in the future than Corsica and Sardinia combined. He looks upon northern Italy as practically conquered, and speaks of invading Bavaria through the Tyrol. "Prodigious" is practically the verdict of the Directory, and later of Jomini. "My columns are marching; Beaulieu flees. I hope to catch him. I shall impose a contribution of some millions on the Duke of Parma: he will sue for peace: don't be in a hurry, so that I may have time to make him also contribute to the cost of the campaign, by replenishing our stores and rehorsing our waggons at his expense." Bonaparte suggests that Genoa should pay fifteen millions indemnity for the frigates and vessels taken in the port. Certain risks had to be run in invading Lombardy, owing to want of horse artillery, but at Cherasco he secured artillery and horses.

When writing to the Directory for a dozen companies, he tells them not to entrust the execution of this measure "to the men of the bureaus, for it takes them ten days to forward an order." Writing to Carnot on the same day he states he is marching against Beaulieu, who has 26,000 foot out of 38,000 at commencement of campaign.

Napoleon's force is 28,000, but he has less cavalry. On May 1st, in a letter dated Acqui to Citizen Faipoult, he asks for particulars of the pictures, statues, &c., of Milan, Parma, Placentia, Modena, and Bologna. On the same day Ma.s.sena writes that his men are needing shoes. On May 6th Bonaparte announces the capture of Tortona, "a very fine fortress, which cost the King of Sardinia over fifteen millions," while Cherasco has furnished him with twenty-eight guns.

Meanwhile Ma.s.sena has taken possession of Alessandria, with all its stores. On May 9th Napoleon writes to Carnot, "We have at last crossed the Po. The second campaign is begun; Beaulieu ... has fool-hardiness but no genius. One more victory, and Italy is ours." A clever commissary-general is all he needs, and his men are growing fat--with good meat and good wine. He sends to Paris twenty old masters, with fine examples of Correggio and Michael-Angelo. It is pleasant to find Napoleon's confidence in Carnot, in view of Barras'

insinuations that the latter had cared only for Moreau--his type of Xenophon. In this very letter Napoleon writes Carnot, "I owe you my special thanks for the care that you have kindly given to my wife; I recommend her to you, she is a sincere patriot, and I love her to distraction." He is sending "a dozen millions" to France, and hopes that some of it will be useful to the army of the Rhine. Meanwhile, and two days before Napoleon's letter to Carnot just mentioned, the latter, on behalf of the Directory, suggests the division of his command with the old Alsatian General Kellermann. The Directory's idea of a gilded pill seems to be a prodigiously long letter. It is one of those heart-breaking effusions that, even to this day, emanate from board-rooms, to the dismay and disgust of their recipients. After plastering him with sickening sophistries as to his "sweetest recompense," it gives the utterly unnecessary monition, "March! no fatal repose, there are still laurels to gather"! Nevertheless, his plan of ending the war by an advance through the Tyrol strikes them as too risky. He is to conquer the Milanais, and then divide his army with Kellermann, who is to guard the conquered province, while he goes south to Naples and Rome. As an implied excuse for not sending adequate reinforcements, Carnot adds, "The exaggerated rumours that you have skilfully disseminated as to the numbers of the French troops in Italy, will augment the fear of our enemies and almost double your means of action." The Milanais is to be heavily mulcted, but he is to be prudent. If Rome makes advances, his first demand should be that the Pope may order immediate public prayers for the prosperity and success of the French Republic! The sending of old masters to France to adorn her National Galleries seems to have been entirely a conception of Napoleon's. He has given sufficiently good reasons, from a patriotic point of view; for money is soon spent, but a masterpiece may encourage Art among his countrymen a generation later. The plunderers of the Parthenon of 1800 could not henceforward throw stones at him in this respect. But his real object was to win the people of Paris by thus sending them Glory personified in unique works of genius.

The Directory, already jealous of his fame, endeavour to neutralise the effect of his initiative by hearty concurrence, and write, "Italy has been illumined and enriched by their possession, but the time is now come when their reign should pa.s.s to France to stablish and beautify that of Liberty." The despatch adds somewhat navely that the effects of the vandalism committed during their own Republican orgies would be obliterated by this glorious campaign, which should "join to the splendour of military trophies the charm of beneficent and restful arts." The Directory ends by inviting him to choose one or two artists to select the most valuable pictures and other masterpieces.

Meanwhile, the Directory's supineness in pushing on the war on the Rhine is enabling the Austrians to send large reinforcements against Napoleon. Bonaparte, who has recently suffered (Jomini, vol. viii.

113) from Kellermann's tardiness in sending reinforcements at an important moment, replies to the letters of May 7th a week later, and writes direct to Citizen Carnot from Lodi, as well as to the Executive Directory. "On the receipt of the Directory's letter of the 7th your wishes were fulfilled, and the Milanais is ours. I shall shortly march, to carry out your intentions, on Leghorn and Rome; all that will soon be done. I am writing the Directory relatively to their idea of dividing the army. I swear that I have no thought beyond the interest of my country. Moreover, you will always find me straight (_dans la ligne droite_).... As it might happen that this letter to the Directory may be badly construed, and since you have a.s.sured me of your friendship, I take this opportunity of addressing you, begging you to make what use of it your prudence and attachment for me may suggest.... Kellermann will command the army as well as I, for no one is more convinced than I am that the victories are due to the courage and pluck of the army; but I think joining Kellermann and myself in Italy is to lose everything. I cannot serve willingly with a man who considers himself the first general in Europe; and, besides, I believe one bad general is better than two good ones. War is like government: it is an affair of tact. To be of any use, I must enjoy the same confidence that you testified to me in Paris. Where I make war, here or there, is a matter of indifference. To serve my country, to deserve from posterity a page in our history, to give the Government proofs of my attachment and devotion--that is the sum of my ambition. But I am very anxious not to lose in a week the fatigues, anxieties, and dangers of two months, and to find myself fettered. I began with a certain amount of fame; I wish to continue worthy of you." To the Directory he writes that the expeditions to Leghorn, Rome, and Naples are small affairs, but to be safely conducted must have one general in command. "I have made the campaign without consulting a soul; I should have done no good if I had had to share my views with another. I have gained some advantages over superior forces, and in utter want of everything, because, certain of your confidence, my marches have been as quick as my thoughts." He foretells disaster if he is shackled with another general. "Every one has his own method of making war. General Kellermann has more experience, and will do it better than I; but both together will do it very badly." With Barras he knew eloquence was useless, and therefore bribed him with a million francs. On May 10th was gained the terrible battle of the Bridge of Lodi, where he won promotion from his soldiers, and became their "little corporal," and where he told Las Cases that he "was struck with the possibility of becoming famous. It was then that the first spark of my ambition was kindled." On entering Milan he told Marmont, "Fortune has smiled on me to-day, only because I despise her favours; she is a woman, and the more she does for me, the more I shall exact from her. In our day no one has originated anything great; it is for me to give the example."

On May 15th, thirty-five days after the commencement of the campaign, he entered Milan, under a triumphal arch and amid the acclamations of the populace. On the previous evening he was guilty of what Dr.

Johnson would have considered a fitting herald of his spoliation of picture-galleries--the perpetration of a pun. At a dinner-table the hostess observed that his youth was remarkable in so great a conqueror, whereat he replied, "Truly, madam, I am not very old at present--barely twenty-seven--but in less than twenty-four hours I shall count many more, for I shall have attained Milan" (_mille ans_).

On May 22nd he returned to Lodi, but heard immediately that Lombardy in general, and Pavia in particular, was in open revolt. He makes a terrible example of Pavia, shooting its chief citizens, and, for the only time, giving up a town to three hours' pillage. The Directory congratulates him on these severe measures: "The laws of war and the safety of the army render them legitimate in such circ.u.mstances." He writes them that had the blood of a single Frenchman been spilt, he would have erected a column on the ruins of Pavia, on which should have been inscribed, "Here was the town of Pavia."

On May 21st, Carnot replies to the letter from Lodi: "You appear desirous, citizen general, of continuing to conduct the whole series of military operations in Italy, at the actual seat of war. The Directory has carefully considered your proposition, and the confidence that they place in your talents and republican zeal has decided this question in the affirmative.... The rest of the military operations towards the Austrian frontier and round Mantua are absolutely dependent on your success against Beaulieu. The Directory feels how difficult it would be to direct them from Paris. It leaves to you in this respect the greatest lat.i.tude, while recommending the most extreme prudence. Its intention is, however, that the army shall cross into the Tyrol only after the expedition to the south of Italy."

This was a complete victory for Bonaparte (Bingham calls it the Directory's "abject apology"), and, as Scott points out, he now "obtained an ascendency which he took admirable care not to relinquish; and it became the sole task of the Directory, so far as Italy was concerned, to study phrases for intimating their approbation of the young general's measures."

He had forged a sword for France, and he now won her heart by gilding it. On May 16th the Directory had asked him to supply Kellermann with money for the army of the Alps, and by May 22nd he is able to write that six or eight million francs in gold, silver, ingots, or jewels is lying at their disposal with one of the best bankers in Genoa, being superfluous to the needs of the army. "If you wish it, I can have a million sent to Bale for the army of the Rhine." He has already helped Kellermann, and paid his men. He also announces a further million requisitioned from Modena. "As it has neither fortresses nor muskets, I could not ask for them."

Henceforth he lubricates the manifold wheels of French policy with Italian gold, and gains thereby the approbation and grat.i.tude of the French armies and people. Meanwhile he does not neglect those who might bear him a grudge. To Kellermann and to all the Directors he sends splendid chargers. From Parma he has the five best pictures chosen for Paris--the Saint Jerome and the Madonna della Scodella, both by Correggio; the Preaching of St. John in the Desert, a Paul Veronese, and a Van Dyck, besides fine examples of Raphael, Caracci, &c.

The Directory is anxious that he shall chastise the English at Leghorn, as the fate of Corsica is somewhat dependent on it, whose loss "will make London tremble." They secretly dread a war in the Tyrol, forgetting that Bonaparte is a specialist in mountain fighting, educated under Paoli. They remind him that he has not sent the plans of his battles. "You ought not to lack draughtsmen in Italy. Eh! what are your young engineer officers doing?"

On May 31st Carnot writes to urge him to press the siege of Mantua, rea.s.serting that the reinforcements which Beaulieu has received will not take from that army its sense of inferiority, and that ten battalions of Hoche's army are on the way. It approves and confirms the "generous fraternity" with which Bonaparte offers a million francs to the armies on the Rhine. On June 7th he tells the Directory that Rome is about to fulminate a bull against the French Royalists, but that he thinks the expedition to Naples should be deferred, and also a quarrel with Venice--at least till he has beaten his other enemies; it is not expedient to tackle every one at once. On June 6th he thanks Carnot for a kind letter, adding that the best reward to sweeten labour and perils is the esteem of the few men one really admires. He fears the hot weather for his men: "we shall soon be in July, when every march will cost us 200 sick." The same day he writes General Clarke that all is flourishing, but that the dog-star is coming on at a gallop, and that there is no remedy against its malign influence.

"Luckless beings that we are! Our position with nature is merely observation, without control." He holds that the only safe way to end the campaign without being beaten is not to go to the south of Italy.

On the 9th he thanks Kellermann for the troops he sends, and their excellent discipline. On the 11th--always as anxious to help his generals as himself--he urges the Directory to press the Swiss Government to refund La Harpe's property to his children.

"_Presentiment of ill._"--Marmont tells us what this was. The gla.s.s of his wife's portrait, which he always carried with him, was found to be broken. Turning frightfully pale, he said to Marmont, "My wife is either very ill, or unfaithful." She left Paris June 24th. Marmont says, "Once at Milan, General Bonaparte was very happy, for at that time he lived only for his wife.... Never love more pure, more true, more exclusive, has possessed the heart of any man."

No. 8.

Between June 15th and the renewal of Josephine's correspondence a glance at the intervening dates will show that Bonaparte and his army were not wasting time. The treaty with Rome was a masterpiece, as in addition to money and works of art, he obtained the port of Ancona, siege-guns with which to bombard Mantua, and best of all, a letter from the Pope to the faithful of France, recommending submission to the new government there. In consideration of this, and possibly yielding to the religious sentiments of Josephine, he spared Rome his presence--the only capital which he abstained from entering, when he had, as in the present case, the opportunity. It was not, however, until February 1797 that the Pope fulfilled his obligations under this Treaty, and then under new compulsion.

_Fortune._--Josephine's dog (see note to Letter 2, Series B).

FOOTNOTES

[41] No. 89 of Napoleon III.'s Correspondence of Napoleon I., vol. i., the last letter signed Buonaparte; after March 24 we only find Bonaparte.

[42] Compelled to surrender Genoa, before Marengo takes place, he swears to the Austrian general he will be back there in fourteen days, and keeps his word.

[43] Two days later he evidently feels this letter too severe, and writes: "All goes well. Pillage is less p.r.o.nounced. This first thirst of an army dest.i.tute of everything is quenched. The poor fellows are excusable; after having sighed for three years at the top of the Alps, they arrive in the Promised Land, and wish to taste of it."

[44] Bingham, with his customary ill-nature, remarks that Bonaparte, "in spite of the orders of the Directory, took upon himself to sign the armistice." These orders, dated March 6th, were intended for a novice, and no longer applicable to the conqueror of two armies, and which a Despatch on the way, dated April 25th, already modified. Jomini admits the wisdom of this advantageous peace, which secured Nice and Savoy to France, and gave her all the chief mountain-pa.s.ses leading into Italy.

SERIES B

No. 1.

_July 6, Sortie from Mantua of the Austrians._--According to Jomini the French on this occasion were not successful (vol. viii. 162). In one of his several letters to the Directory on this date is seen Bonaparte's anxiety for reinforcements; the enemy has already 67,000 men against his available 40,000. Meanwhile he is helping the Corsicans to throw off the British yoke, and believes that the French possession of Leghorn will enable the French to gain that island without firing a shot.

No. 2.

_Marmirolo._--On July 12th he writes to the Directory from Verona that for some days he and the enemy have been watching each other. "Woe to him who makes a false move." He indicates that he is about to make a _coup de main_ on Mantua, with 300 men dressed in Austrian uniforms.

He is by no means certain of success, which "depends entirely on luck--either on a dog[45] or a goose." He complains of much sickness among his men round Mantua, owing to the heat and miasmata from the marshes, but so far no deaths. He will be ready to make Venice disgorge a few millions shortly, if the Directory make a quarrel in the interim.

On the 13th he was with Josephine, as he writes from Milan, but leaves on the 14th, and on the 17th is preparing a _coup de_ _main_ with 800 grenadiers, which, as we see from the next letter, fails.

_Fortune._--Arnault tells an anecdote of this lap-dog, which in 1794, in the days of the Terror, had been used as a bearer of secret despatches between Josephine in prison and the governess of her children outside the grille. Henceforward Josephine would never be parted from it. One day in June 1797 the dog was lying on the same couch as its mistress, and Bonaparte, accosting Arnault and pointing to the dog with his finger, said, "You see that dog there. He is my rival. He was in possession of Madame's bed when I married her. I wished to make him get out--vain hope! I was told I must resign myself to sleep elsewhere, or consent to share with him. That was sufficiently exasperating, but it was a question of taking or leaving, and I resigned myself. The favourite was less accommodating than I. I bear the proof of it in this leg."

Not content with barking at every one, he bit not only men but other dogs, and was finally killed by a mastiff, much to Bonaparte's secret satisfaction; for, as St. Amand adds, "he could easily win battles, accomplish miracles, make or unmake princ.i.p.alities, but could not show a dog the door."

No. 3.

"_The village of Virgil._"--Michelet (Jusqu'au 18 _Brumaire_) thinks that here he got the idea of the Fete of Virgil, established a few months later. In engravings of the hero of Italy we see him near the tomb of Virgil, his brows shaded by a laurel crown.

No. 4.

_Achille._--Murat. He had been appointed one of Bonaparte's aides-de-camp February 29th, made General of Brigade after the Battle of Lodi (May 10th); is sent to Paris after Junot with nine trophies, and arrives there first. He flirts there outrageously with Josephine, but does not escort her back to her husband.

No. 5.

'_Will o' the wisp_,' _i.e._ _l'ardent_.--This word, according to Menage, was given by the Sieur de St. Germain to those lively young sparks who, about the year 1634, used to meet at the house of Mr.

Marsh (M. de Marest), who was one of them.

No. 6.

_The needs of the army._--Difficulties were acc.u.mulating, and Napoleon was, as he admits at St. Helena, seriously alarmed. Wurmser's force proves to be large, Piedmont is angry with the Republic and ready to rise, and Venice and Rome would willingly follow its example; the English have taken Porto-Ferrajo, and their skilful minister, Windham, is sowing the seeds of discord at Naples. Although on July 20th he has written a friend in Corsica that "all smiles on the Republic," he writes Saliceti, another brother Corsican, very differently on August 1st. "Fortune appears to oppose us at present.... I have raised the siege of Mantua; I am at Brescia with nearly all my army. I shall take the first opportunity of fighting a battle with the enemy which will decide the fate of Italy--if I'm beaten, I shall retire on the Adda; if I win, I shall not stop in the marshes of Mantua.... Let the citadels of Milan, Tortona, Alessandria, and Pavia be provisioned....

We are all very tired; I have ridden five horses to death." Reading between the lines of this letter to Josephine, it is evident that he thinks she will be safer with him than at Milan--Wurmser having the option of advancing _via_ Brescia on Milan, and cutting off the French communications. The Marshal's fatal mistake was in using only half his army for the purpose. This raising of the siege of Mantua (July 31st) was heart-rending work for Bonaparte, but, as Jomini shows, he had no artillery horses, and it was better to lose the siege train, consisting of guns taken from the enemy, than to jeopardise the whole army. Wurmser had begun his campaign successfully by defeating Ma.s.sena, and pushing back Sauret at Salo. "The Austrians," wrote Ma.s.sena, "are drunk with brandy, and fight furiously," while his men are famished and can only hang on by their teeth. Bonaparte calls his first war council, and thinks for a moment of retreat, but Augereau insists on fighting, which is successfully accomplished while Wurmser is basking himself among the captured artillery outside Mantua.

Bonaparte had been perfectly honest in telling the Directory his difficulties, and sends his brother Louis to the Directory for that purpose on the eve of battle. He is complimented in a letter from the Directory dated August 12th--a letter probably the more genuine as they had just received a further despatch announcing a victory. On August 3rd Bonaparte won a battle at Lonato, and the next day Augereau gained great laurels at Castiglione; in later years the Emperor often incited Augereau by referring to those "fine days of Castiglione."