Array Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne - The Collected Works of Napoleon Bonaparte

Fontainebleau, November 14, 1810.

My Dear ,—I have received your letter. Hortense has spoken to me about it. I note with pleasure that you are contented. I hope that you are not very tired of Navarre.

My health is very good. The Empress progresses satisfactorily. I will do the various things you ask regarding your household. Take care of your health, and never doubt my affection for you.

Napoleon.

No. 11.

To the Empress Josephine, at Navarre.

I have your letter. I see no objection to the marriage of Mackau with Wattier, if he wishes it; this general is a very brave man. I am in good health. I hope to have a son; I shall let you know immediately.

Adieu, dear. I am very glad that Madame d'Arberg 39has told you things which please you. When you see me, you will find me with my old affection for you.

Napoleon.

December 3rd. —English take Mauritius.

Table of Contents

1811

"Nun steht das Reich gesichert, wie gegründet,

Nun fühlt er froh im Sohne sich gegründet.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Und sei durch Sie dies letzte Glück beschieden—

Der alles wollen kann, will auch den Frieden."

—Goethe ( Ibro der Kaiserin von Frankreich Majestät ).

No. 1.

To the Empress Josephine, at Navarre.

Paris, January 8th, 1811.

I have your New Year's letter. I thank you for its contents. I note with pleasure that you are well and happy. I hear that there are more women than men at Navarre.

My health is excellent, though I have not been out for a fortnight. Eugène appears to have no fears about his wife; he gives you a grandson.

Adieu, dear; keep well.

Napoleon.

February 19th. —Soult defeats Spaniards at the Gébora, near Badajoz.

February 28th. —French occupy Duchy of Oldenburg, to complete the line of the North Sea blockade against England. This occupation embitters the Emperor of Russia and his family.

March 10th. —Mortier captures Badajoz after a siege of 54 days.

March 20th. —Birth of the King of Rome —"a pompous title buried in the tomb of the Ostrogoths."

No. 2.

To the Empress Josephine, at Navarre.

Paris, March 22nd, 1811.

My Dear ,—I have your letter. I thank you for it.

My son is fat, and in excellent health. I trust he may continue to improve. He has my chest, my mouth, and my eyes. I hope he may fulfil his destiny. I am always well pleased with Eugène; he has never given me the least anxiety.

Napoleon.

April 4th. —Battle of Fuentes d'Onoro. Massena attacks English, and is repulsed.

June 18th. —Wellington raises siege of Badajoz, and retires on Portugal.

June 29th. —French storm Tarragona, whereupon Suchet created Marshal.

No. 3.

To the Empress Josephine, at Malmaison.

Trianon, August 25th, 1811.

I have your letter. I see with pleasure that you are in good health. I have been for some days at Trianon. I expect to go to Compiègne. My health is very good.

Put some order into your affairs. Spend only £60,000, and save as much every year; that will make a reserve of £600,000 in ten years for your grandchildren. It is pleasant to be able to give them something, and be helpful to them. Instead of that, I hear you have debts, which would be really too bad. Look after your affairs, and don't give to every one who wants to help himself. If you wish to please me, let me hear that you have accumulated a large fortune. Consider how ill I must think of you, if I know that you, with £125,000 a year, are in debt.

Adieu, dear; keep well.

Napoleon.

No. 4.

To the Empress Josephine, at Malmaison.

Friday , 8 A.M., 1811.

I send to know how you are, for Hortense tells me you were in bed yesterday. I was annoyed with you about your debts. I do not wish you to have any; on the contrary, I wish you to put a million aside every year, to give to your grandchildren when they get married.

Nevertheless, never doubt my affection for you, and don't worry any more about the present embarrassment.

Adieu, dear. Send me word that you are well. They say that you are as fat as a good Normandy farmeress.

Napoleon.

October 25th-26th. —Battle of Murviedro and capture of Sagunto: Blake and O'Donnell heavily defeated by Suchet.

December 20th. —Senatus Consultus puts 120,000 conscripts (born in 1792) at disposal of Government for 1812.

December 26th. —Suchet defeats Spanish, and crosses Guadalaviar.

Table of Contents

1812

"'Tis the same landscape which the modern Mars saw

Who march'd to Moscow, led by Fame, the siren!

To lose by one month's frost, some twenty years

Of conquest, and his guard of grenadiers."

—Byron ( Don Juan , canto x. stanza 58).

Montgaillard sums up his tirade against Napoleon for the Russian campaign by noting that it took the Romans ten years to conquer Gaul, while Napoleon "would not give two to the conquest of that vast desert of Scythia which forced Darius to flee, Alexander to draw back, Crassus to perish; where Julian terminated his career, where Valerian covered himself with shame, and which saw the disasters of Charles XII."

January 9th. —Suchet captures Valencia, 18,000 Spanish troops, and 400 cannon. The marshal is made Duke of Albuféra.

January 15th. —Imperial decree ordains 100,000 acres to be put under cultivation of beetroot, for the manufacture of indigenous sugar.

January 19th. —Taking of Ciudad Rodrigo by Wellington.

January 26th. —French, under General Friand, occupy Stralsund and Swedish Pomerania.

February 24th. —Treaty of alliance between France and Prussia; the latter to support France in case of a war with Russia.

March 13th. —Senatus Consultus divides the National Guards into three bans, to include all capable men not already in military service. They are not to serve outside France. A hundred cohorts, each 970 strong, of the first ban (men between 20 and 26), put at disposal of Government.

March 14th. —Treaty between France and Austria; reciprocal help, in need, of 30,000 men and 60 guns. The integrity of European Turkey mutually guaranteed.

March 26th. —Treaty between Russia and Sweden. Bernadotte is promised Norway by Alexander.

April 7th. —The English take Badajoz by assault. "The French General, Philippon, with but 3000 men, has been besieged thrice within thirteen months by armies of 50,000 men" ( Montgaillard ).

April 24th. —Alexander leaves St. Petersburg, to take command of his Grand Army.

May 9th.—Napoleon leaves Paris for Germany.

May 11th. —Assassination of English Prime Minister, Perceval.

May 17th-28th.—Napoleon at Dresden; joined there by the Emperor and Empress of Austria, and a fresh "parterre of kings".

May 28th. —-Treaty of Bucharest, between Turkey and Russia. The Pruth as boundary, and Servia restored to Turkey. This treaty, so fatal to Napoleon, and of which he only heard in October, was mainly the work of Stratford de Redcliffe, then aged twenty-five. Wellington, thinking the treaty his brother's work, speaks of it as "the most important service that ever fell to the lot of any individual to perform."

No. 1.

June 12th. —Suchet defeats an Anglo-Spanish army outside Tarragona.

To the Empress Josephine, at Malmaison.