Napoleon's Letters to Josephine, 1796-1812
This special danger at Eylau is told by Las Cases, who heard it from
Bertrand. Napoleon was on foot, with only a few officers of his staff;
a column of four to five thousand Russians came almost in contact with
him. Berthier instantly ordered up the horses. The Emperor gave him a
reproachful look; then sent orders to a battalion of his guard to
advance, which was a good way behind, and standing still. As the
Russians advanced he repeated several times, "What audacity, what
audacity!" At the sight of his Grenadiers of the Guard the Russians
stopped short. It was high time for them to do so, as Bertrand said.
The Emperor had never stirred; all who surrounded him had been much
alarmed.
No. 55.
"It is the first and only time," says Aubenas, "that, in these two
volumes of letters (_Collection Didot_), Napoleon says _vous_ to his
wife. But his vexation does not last more than a few lines, and this
short letter ends, '_Tout a toi_.' Not content with this softening,
and convinced how grieved Josephine will be at this language of cold
etiquette, he writes to her the same day, at ten o'clock at night,
before going to bed, a second letter in his old style, which ends,
'_Mille et mille amities_.'" It is a later letter (March 25th) which
ends as described, but No. 56 is, nevertheless, a kind letter.
No. 56.
_Dupuis._--Former principal of the Brienne Military School. Napoleon,
always solicitous for the happiness of those whom he had known in his
youth, had made Dupuis his own librarian at Malmaison. His brother,
who died in 1809, was the learned Egyptologist.
No. 58.
_M. de T----_, _i.e._ M. de Thiard. In _Lettres Inedites de Napoleon
I._ (Brotonne), No. 176, to Talleyrand, March 22nd, the Emperor
writes: "I have had M. de Thiard effaced from the list of officers. I
have sent him away, after having testified all my displeasure, and
told him to stay on his estate. He is a man without military honour
and civic fidelity.... My intention is that he shall also be struck
off from the number of my chamberlains. I have been poignantly grieved
at such black ingratitude, but I think myself fortunate to have found
out such a wicked man in time." De Thiard seems to have been
corresponding with the enemy from Warsaw.
No. 60.
_Marshal Bessieres._--His chateau of Grignon, now destroyed, was one
of the most beautiful of Provence. Madame de Sevigne lived and was
buried in the town of Grignon.
_No. 63._
This was printed April 24th in the French editions, but April 14th is
evidently the correct date.
No. 67.
"_Sweet, pouting, and capricious._"--Aubenas speaks of these lines "in
the style of the Italian period, which seemed in fact to calm the
fears of the Empress."
No. 68.
_Madame ----._ His own sister, Madame Murat, afterwards Queen of
Naples. See note to Letter 35 for her influence over Junot. The latter
was severely reprimanded by Napoleon on his return and banished from
Paris. "Why, for example, does the Grand Duchess occupy your boxes at
the theatres? Why does she go thither in your carriage? Hey! M. Junot!
you are surprised that I am so well acquainted with your affairs and
those of that little fool, Madame Murat?" ("Memoirs of the Duchess
d'Abrantes," vol. iii. 328.)
_Measles._--As the poor child was ill four days, it was probably
laryngitis from which he died--an ailment hardly distinguishable from
croup, and one of the commonest sequelae of measles. He died on May
5th.
The best account is the Memoirs of Stanislaus Giraudin. They had
applied leeches to the child's chest, and had finally recourse to some
English powders of unknown composition, which caused a rally, followed
by the final collapse. King Louis said the child's death was caused by
the Dutch damp climate, which was bad for his own health. Josephine
hastens to join her daughter, but breaks down at Lacken, where
Hortense, more dead than alive, joins her, and returns to Paris with
her.
No. 69.
_I trust I may hear you have been rational in your sorrow._--As a
matter of fact he had heard the opposite, for the following day
(May 15th) he writes to his brother Jerome: "Napoleon died in three
days at the Hague; I know not if the King has advised you of it.
This event gives me the more pain insomuch as his father and mother
are not rational, and are giving themselves up to all the transports
of their grief." To Fouche he writes three days later: "I have
been very much afflicted by the misfortune which has befallen me.
I had hoped for a more brilliant destiny for that poor child;" and on
May 20th, "I have felt the loss of the little Napoleon very acutely.
I would have wished that his father and mother should have received
from their temperament as much courage as I for knowing how to bear
all the ills of life. But they are younger, and have reflected less on
the frailty of our worldly possessions." It is typical of Napoleon
that the only man to whom, as far as we know, he unbosomed his
sorrow should be one of his early friends, even though that friend
should be the false and faithless Fouche, who requited his confidence
later by vile and baseless allegations respecting the parentage of
this very child. In one respect only did Napoleon resemble David in
his supposititious sin, which was, that when the child was dead, he
had neither time nor temperament to waste in futile regrets. As he
said on another occasion, if his wife had died during the Austerlitz
Campaign it would not have delayed his operations a quarter of an
hour. But he considers practical succour to the living as the most
fitting memorial to the dead, and writes on June 4th to De Champagny:
"Twenty years ago a malady called croup showed itself in the north
of Europe. Some years ago it spread into France. I require you to
offer a prize of L500 (12,000 francs), to be given to the doctor who
writes the best essay on this malady and its mode of treatment."
Commenting on this letter Bignon (vol. vi. p. 262) adds, "It is,
however, fortunate when, on the eve of battles, warlike princes are
pondering over ways of preserving the population of their states."
No. 71.
_May 20th._--On this date he writes Hortense: "My daughter, all the
news I get from the Hague tells me that you are not rational. However
legitimate your grief, it must have limits: never impair your health;
seek distractions, and know that life is strewn with so many rocks,
and may be the source of so many miseries, that death is not the
greatest of all.--Your affectionate father, NAPOLEON."
No. 74.
_I am vexed with Hortense._--The same day he encloses with this a
letter to Hortense. "My daughter, you have not written me a line
during your great and righteous grief. You have forgotten everything,
as if you had nothing more to lose. They say you care no longer for
any one, that you are callous about everything; I note the truth of it
by your silence. This is not well, Hortense, it is not what you
promised me. Your son was everything for you. Are your mother and
myself nothing? Had I been at Malmaison I should have shared your
grief, but I should have wished you at the same time to turn to your
best friends. Good-bye, my daughter, be cheerful; it is necessary to
be resigned; keep well, in order to fulfil all your duties. My wife is
utterly miserable about your condition; do not increase her
sorrow.--Your affectionate father, NAPOLEON."
Hortense had been on such bad terms with her husband for several
months past that Napoleon evidently thinks it wiser not to allude to
him, although he had written Louis a very strong letter on his
treatment of his wife two months earlier (see letter 12,294 of the
_Correspondence_, April 4th). There is, however, a temporary reunion
between husband and wife in their common sorrow.
No. 78.
_Friedland._--On this day he wrote a further letter to the Queen of
Holland (No. 12,761 of the _Correspondence_): "My daughter, I have
your letter dated Orleans. Your grief pains me, but I should like you
to possess more courage; to live is to suffer, and the true man is
always fighting for mastery over himself. I do not like to see you
unjust towards the little Napoleon Louis, and towards all your
friends. Your mother and I had hoped to be more to you than we are."
She had been sent to take the waters of Cauterets, and had left her
child Napoleon Louis (who died at Forli, 1831) with Josephine, who
writes to her daughter (June 11th): "He amuses me much; he is so
gentle. I find he has all the ways of that poor child that we mourn."
And a few days later: "There remains to you a husband, an interesting
child, and a mother whose love you know." Josephine had with women the
same tact that her husband had with men, but the Bonaparte family,
with all its good qualities, strained the tact and tempers of both to
the utmost.
No. 79.
_Tilsit._--Referring to Napoleon and Alexander at Tilsit, Michaud
says: "Both full of wiles and devices, they affected nevertheless the
most perfect sentiments of generosity, which at the bottom they
scarcely dreamed of practising. Reunited, they were the masters of the
world, but such a union seemed impossible; they would rather share it
among themselves. Allies and rivals, friends and enemies, all were
sacrificed; henceforth there were to be only two powers, that of the
East and that of the West. Bonaparte at this time actually ruled from
the Niemen to the Straits of Gibraltar, from the North Sea to the base
of the Italian Peninsula."
FOOTNOTES
[60] Bouillet, _Dictionnaire Universelle_, &c.
[61] "The Queen of that Court was the fair Madame Tallien. All that
imagination can conceive will scarcely approach the reality;
beautiful after the antique fashion, she had at once grace and
dignity; without being endowed with a superior wit, she
possessed the art of making the best of it, and won people's
hearts by her great kindness."--_Memoirs of Marmont_, vol. i.,
p. 887.
[62] This brave general was mortally wounded in the cavalry charge
which saved the battle, and the friends of Bernadotte assert
that the message was never given--an assertion more credible if
the future king's record had been better on other occasions.
[63] Alison says 75,000 allies, 85,000 French, but admits allies had
100 more cannon.
[64] Augereau, says Meneval, went out of his mind during this battle,
and had to be sent back to France.
SERIES H
No. 1.
_Milan._--Magnificent public works were set on foot by Napoleon at
Milan, and the Cathedral daily adorned with fresh marvels of
sculpture. Arriving here on the morning of the 22nd, Napoleon goes
first to hear the _Te Deum_ at the Cathedral, then to see Eugene's
wife at the Monza Palace; in the evening to the La Scala Theatre, and
finishes the day (to use an Irishism) by working most of the night.
_Mont Cenis._--"The roads of the Simplon and Mont Cenis were kept in
the finest order, and daily attracted fresh crowds of strangers to the
Italian plains." So says Alison, but on the present occasion Napoleon
was overtaken by a storm which put his life in danger. He was
fortunate enough to reach a cave in which he took refuge. This cave
appeared to him, as he afterwards said, "a cave of diamonds"
(Meneval).
_Eugene._--The writer in _Biog. Univ._ (art. Josephine) says: "During
a journey that Napoleon made in Italy (November 1807) he wished, while
loading Eugene with favours, to prepare his mind for his mother's
divorce. The Decree of Milan, by which, in default of male and
legitimate children[65] of _the direct_ _line_, he adopted Eugene for
his son and his successor to the throne of Italy, gave to those who
knew how to read the secret thoughts of the Emperor in his patent acts