Napoleon's Letters to Josephine, 1796-1812
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 Eugene; 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 Compiegne. My
health is very good.
Put some order into your affairs. Spend only L60,000, and save as much
every year; that will make a reserve of L600,000 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 L125,000 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.
SERIES P
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).
SERIES P
(For subjoined Notes to this Series see pages 312-315.)
LETTER PAGE
No. 1. Konigsberg 312
No. 2. _Gumbinnen_ 313
1812.
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 Albufera.
_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.
_June 12th, 1812._
_My Dear_,--I shall always receive news from you with great interest.
The waters will, I hope, do you good, and I shall see you with much
pleasure on your return.
Never doubt the interest I feel in you. I will arrange all the matters
of which you speak.
NAPOLEON.
* * * * *
_June 16th._--Lord Liverpool Prime Minister of England.
_June 18th._--United States declares war against England
concerning rights of neutrals.
_June 19th._--The captive Pope (Pius VII.) brought to Fontainebleau.
No. 2.
TO THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT MALMAISON.
_Gumbinnen, June 20th, 1812._
I have your letter of June 10th. I see no obstacle to your going to
Milan, to be near the Vice-Reine. You will do well to go _incognito_.
You will find it very hot.
My health is very good. Eugene is well, and is doing good work. Never
doubt the interest I have in you, and my friendship.
NAPOLEON.
* * * * *
_June 22nd.--Napoleon from his headquarters, Wilkowyszki, declares
war against Russia. His army comprised 550,000 men and 1200
cannon, and he held sway at this epoch over 85,000,000 souls--half
the then population of Europe._
_June 24th._--French cross the Niemen, over 450,000 strong.[40] Of
these 20,000 are Italians, 80,000 from Confederation of the Rhine,
30,000 Poles, 30,000 Austrians, and 20,000 Prussians. The Russian
army numbers 360,000.
_June 28th._--French enter Wilna, the old capital of Lithuania.
_Napoleon remains here till July 16th, establishing a provisional
government, and leaving his Foreign Minister, Maret, there._
_July 12th._--Americans invade Canada.
_July 18th._--Treaty of peace between England and Sweden; and
between Russia and the Spanish Regency at Cadiz.
_July 22nd._--_Battle of Salamanca_ (Arapiles). Marmont defeated
by Wellington, and badly wounded. French lose nearly 8000 men and
5000 prisoners; English loss, 5200. The Spanish Regency had
decided to submit to Joseph Bonaparte, but this battle deters
them. French retire behind the Douro.
_July 23rd._--Combat of Mohilow, on the Dneiper. Davoust defeats
Bagration.
_July 28th._--French enter Witepsk.
_August 1st._--Treaty of alliance between Great Britain and
Russia. English fleet henceforward guards the Gulf of Riga. Combat
of Obaiarzma, on the bank of the Drissa. Marshal Oudinot defeats
Wittgenstein. Russians lose 5000 men and 14 guns.
_August 9th._--Battle of Brownstown (near Toronto). Americans
defeated; surrender August 16th with 2500 men and 33 guns to
General Brock.
_August 12th._--Wellington enters Madrid.
_August 17th-18th.--Battle and capture of Smolensk. Napoleon
defeats Barclay de Tolly; Russians lose 12,000, French less than
half._
_August 18th._--Battle of Polotsk, fifty miles from Witepsk, down
the Dwina. St. Cyr defeats Wittgenstein's much larger army, and
takes 20 guns. (St. Cyr made marshal for this battle, August
27th.)
_August 19th._--Combat of Volontino-Cova, beyond Smolensk. Ney
defeats Russians.
_August 27th._--Norway guaranteed Sweden in lieu of Finland by
Russia.
_August 28th._--Interview at Abo, in Finland, between Alexander,
Bernadotte, and Lord Cathcart (English ambassador). Decided that
Sweden shall join the crusade against France, and that Moreau be
imported from U.S.A. to command another army.
_August 29th._--Viazma, burnt by Russians, entered by the French.
_September 7th._--Battle of Borodino (_La Moskowa_). Nearly all
the Russian generals are present: Barclay de Tolly, Beningsen,
Bagration (who is killed), all under Kutusoff. Russians lose
30,000 men, French 20,000, including many generals who had
survived all the campaigns of the Revolution. The French, hungry
and soaked in rain, have no energy to pursue.
_September 14th._--Occupation of Moscow; fired by emissaries of
Rostopchin, its late governor. Of 4000 stone houses only 200
remain, of 8000 wooden ones 500. Over 20,000 sick and wounded
burnt in their beds. Fire lasts till September 20th.
_September 18th._--Russian Army of the Danube under Admiral
Tschitchagow joins the Army of Reserve.
_September 26th._--Russian troops from Finland disembark at Riga.
_September 30th.--Napoleon finds a copy of Treaty of Bucharest at
Moscow._
_October 11th._--Admiral Tschitchagow with 36,000 men reaches
Bresc, on the Bug, threatening the French communications with
Warsaw.
_October 17th-19th._--Second combat of Polotsk. Wittgenstein again
defeated by St. Cyr, who is wounded.
_October 18th._--Combat of Winkowo; Kutusoff defeats Murat.
Americans defeated at Queenston Heights, on the Niagara, and lose
900 men.
_October 19th._--Commencement of the Retreat from Moscow.
_October 22nd._--Burgos captured by Wellington.
_October 23rd._--Conspiracy of Malet at Paris; Cambaceres to the
rescue. Evacuation of Moscow by Mortier after forty days'
occupation. The French army now retreating has only half its
original strength, and the best cavalry regiments boast only 100
horses.
_October 24th.--Battle of Malo-Jaroslavitz. Eugene with 17,000_
_men defeats Kutusoff with 60,000; but Napoleon finds the enemy
too strong and too tenacious to risk the fertile Kaluga route._
_November 3rd._--Battle of Wiazma. Rearguard action, in which Ney
and Eugene are distinguished.
_November 9th.--Napoleon reaches Smolensk and hears of Malet
conspiracy._
_November 14th._--Evacuation of Smolensk.
_November 16th._--Russian Army (of the Danube) takes Minsk, and
cuts off the French from the Niemen.
_November 16th-19th._--Combat of Krasnoi, twenty-five miles west
of Smolensk. Kutusoff with 30,000 horse and 70,000 foot tries to
stop the French, who have only 25,000 effective combatants.
Magnificent fighting by Ney with his rearguard of 6000.
_November 21st._--Russians seize at Borizow the bridges over the
Beresina, which are
_November 23rd._--Retaken by Oudinot.
_November 26th-28th._--French cross the Beresina, but lose 20,000