Napoleon's Letters to Josephine, 1796-1812
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 circumstances." 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 latitude, 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 gratitude 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,
reasserting 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 glass 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 pronounced. This first
thirst of an army destitute 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-passes 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