Napoleon's Letters to Josephine, 1796-1812
of what Napoleon said, and to which the ex-Bishop made no reply.
No. 12.
_The English are in utter rout._--Still little but dead men and horses
fell into his hands. Savary adds the interesting fact that all the
(800) dead cavalry horses had a foot missing, which the English had
to show their officers to prove that they had not sold their horses.
Scott, on barely sufficient evidence perhaps, states, "The very
treasure-chests of the army were thrown away and abandoned. There was
never so complete an example of a disastrous retreat." The fact seems
to have been that the soldiership was bad, but Moore's generalship
excellent. Napier writes, "No wild horde of Tartars ever fell with
more license upon their rich effeminate neighbours than did the
English troops upon the Spanish towns taken by storm." What could be
expected of such men in retreat, when even Lord Melville had just said
in extenuation of our army that the worst men make the best soldiers?
NOS. 13 AND 14.
Written at Valladolid. Here he received a deputation asking that his
brother may reside in Madrid, to which he agrees, and awaits its
arrangement before setting out for Paris.
At Valladolid he met De Pradt, whom he mistrusted; but who, like
Talleyrand, always amused him. In the present case the Abbe told him
that "the Spaniards would never thank him for interfering in their
behalf, and that they were like Sganarelle in the farce, who
quarrelled with a stranger for interfering with her husband when he
was beating her" (Scott's "Napoleon").
He leaves Valladolid January 17th, and is in Paris on January 24th. He
rode the first seventy miles, to Burgos, in five and a half hours,
stopping only to change horses.[69] Well might Savary say, "Never had
a sovereign ridden at such a speed."
_Eugene has a daughter._--The Princess Eugenie-Hortense, born December
23rd at Milan; married the hereditary Prince of Hohenzollern
Hechingen.
_They are foolish in Paris_--if not worse. Talleyrand, Fouche, and
others were forming what amounted to a conspiracy, and the Empress
herself, wittingly or unwittingly, had served as their tool. For the
first time she answers a deputation of the Corps Legislatif, who come
to congratulate her on her husband's victories, and says that
doubtless his Majesty would be very sensible of the homage of an
assembly _which represents the nation_. Napoleon sees in this remark a
germ of aggression on behalf of his House of Commons, more especially
when emphasised by 125 blackballs against a Government Bill. He takes
the effective but somewhat severe step of contradicting his wife in
the _Moniteur_, or rather declaring that the Empress knew the laws too
well not to know that the Emperor was the chief representative of the
People, then the Senate, and last the Corps Legislatif.
"It would be a wild and even criminal assertion to try to represent
the nation before the Emperor."
All through the first half of 1809 another dangerous plot, of which
the centre was the Princess of Tour and Taxis, had its threads far and
wide. Many of Soult's generals were implicated, and in communication
with the English, preventing their commander getting news of
Wellesley's movements (Napier). When they find Soult cannot be
traduced, they lend a willing ear to stirring up strife between the
Emperor and Soult, by suggesting that the latter should be made King
of Portugal. Madame d'Abrantes, who heard in 1814 that the idea had
found favour with English statesmen, thinks such a step would have
seriously injured Napoleon (vol. iv. 53).
FOOTNOTES
[67] Napoleon visited Madrid and its Palais Royal incognito, and (like
Vienna) by night (Bausset).
[68] With Lejeune on one occasion.
[69] _Biographie Universelle._ Michaud says _ponies_.
SERIES L
1809.
The dangers surrounding Napoleon were immense. The Austrian army,
320,000 strong (with her Landwehr, 544,000 men) and 800 cannon, had
never been so great, never so fitted for war. Prussia was already
seething with secret societies, of which as yet the only formidable
one was the Tugendbund, whose headquarters were Konigsburg, and whose
chief members were Stein, Stadion, Blucher, Jahn. Perhaps their most
sensible scheme was to form a united German empire, with the Archduke
Charles[70] as its head. The Archduke Ferdinand invaded the Duchy of
Warsaw, and had he taken Thorn with its park of 100 cannon, Prussia
was to join Austria. In Italy the Carbonari and Adelphes[71] only
waited for the French troops to go north to meet the Austrians to
spread revolt in Italy. Of the former the head lodge was at Capua and
its constitutions written in English, since England was aiding this
_chouanerie religieuse_ as a lever against Napoleon. England had an
army of 40,000 men ready to embark in any direction--to Holland,
Belgium, Naples, or Biscay, while the French troops in Portugal were
being tampered with to receive Moreau as their leader, and to march
with Spaniards and English for the Pyrenees. At Paris Talleyrand was
in partial disgrace, but he and Fouche were still plotting--the
latter, says Pelet, forwarding daily a copy of the private bulletin
(prepared for Napoleon's eye alone) to the Bourbons. After Essling and
the breaking of the Danube bridge, he hesitated between seizing
supreme power himself or offering it to Bernadotte.
Up to the last--up to March 27th--the _Correspondence_ proves that
Napoleon had hoped that war would be averted through the influence of
Russia. "All initiative," he declared, "rested on the heads of the
court of Austria." "Menaced on all sides; warned of the intentions of his
enemies by their movements and by their intercepted correspondence;
seeing from that moment hostilities imminent, he wishes to prove to
France and Europe that all the wrongs are on their side, and awaits in his
capital the news of an aggression that nothing justifies, nothing
warrants. Vain prudence! Europe will accuse him of having been the
instigator on every occasion, even in this."[72] On April 8th the
Austrians violated Bavarian territory, and during his supreme command for
the next five days Berthier endangered the safety of the French empire
in spite of the most elaborate and lucid instructions from Napoleon, which
he failed to comprehend. "Never," says Pelet, "was so much written, never
so little done. Each of his letters (Berthier's) attests the great
difference which existed between his own correspondence and that which
was dictated to him." An ideal chief of staff, he utterly lacked the
decision necessary for a commander-in-chief. The arrival of Napoleon
changed in a moment the position of affairs. "The sudden apparition of the
Emperor produced the effect of the head of Medusa, and paralysed the
enemy."[73] Within five days the Austrians were four times defeated, and
Ratisbon, the _passe-partout_ of Southern Germany and half-way house
between Strasburg and Vienna, is once more in the hands of France and her
allies. Pelet considers these operations as the finest which have been
executed either in ancient or modern times, at any rate those of which the
projects are authentically proved. He foretells that military men from
every country of Europe, but specially young Frenchmen, will religiously
visit the fields of the Laber. They will visit, with Napoleon's
_Correspondence_ in their hands, "much more precious than every other
commentary, the hills of Pfaffenhofen, the bridge of Landshut, and that
of Eckmuehl, the mill of Stangl, and the woods of Roking." A few days
later the Archduke Charles writes a letter to Napoleon, which is a fair
type of those charming yet stately manners which made him at that
moment the most popular man in Europe. "Sire," he writes, "your
Majesty's arrival was announced to me by the thunder of artillery, without
giving me time to compliment you thereon. Scarcely advised of your
presence, I was made sensible of it by the losses which you have caused
me. You have taken many of my men, Sire; my troops also have made some
thousands of prisoners in places where you did not direct the
operations. I propose to your Majesty to exchange them man for man, grade
for grade, and if that offer is agreeable to you, please let me know your
intentions for the place destined for the exchange. I feel flattered,
sire, in fighting against the greatest captain of the age. I should be
more happy if destiny had chosen me to procure for my country the
benefit of a lasting peace. Whichsoever they be, the events of war or
the approach of peace, I beg your Majesty to believe that my desires
always carry me to meet you, and that I hold myself equally honoured in
finding the sword, or the olive branch, in the hand of your Majesty."
No. 1.
_DONAUWERTH._--
n the same day napoleon writes almost an identical
letter to cambaceres, adding, however, the news that the tyrolese are
in full revolt.
On april 20th he placed himself at the head of the wurtembergers and
bavarians at abensberg. he made a stirring speech (no. 15,099 of
_correspondence_), and lejeune tells us that the prince royal of
bavaria translated into german one sentence after another as the
emperor spoke, and officers repeated the translations throughout the
ranks.
On april 24th is issued from Ratisbon his proclamation to the
army:--"Soldiers, you have justified my expectations. You have made
up for your number by your bravery. You have gloriously marked the
difference between the soldiers of Caesar and the armed cohorts of
Xerxes. In a few days we have triumphed in the pitched battles of
Thann, Abensberg, and Eckmuehl, and in the combats of Peising,
Landshut, and Ratisbon. A hundred cannon, forty flags, fifty thousand
prisoners.... before a month we shall be at Vienna." It was within
three weeks! He was specially proud of Eckmuehl, and we are probably
indebted to a remark of Pasquier for his chief but never divulged
reason. "A noteworthy fact in connection with this battle was that
the triumphant army was composed principally of Bavarians and
Wurtembergers. Under his direction, these allies were as greatly to be
feared as the French themselves." At St. Helena was written: "The
battle of Abensberg, the manoeuvres of Landshut, and the battle of
Eckmuehl were the most brilliant and the most skilful manoeuvres of
Napoleon." Eckmuehl ended with a fine exhibition of a "white arm"
melee by moonlight, in which the French proved the superiority of
their double cuirasses over the breastplates of the Austrians.
Pelet gives this useful abstract of the campaign of five days:--
_April 19th._--Union of the french army whilst fighting the Archduke,
whose base is already menaced.
_April 20th._--Napoleon, at Abensberg and on the banks of the Laber,
breaks the Austrian line, totally separating the centre from the left,
which he causes to be turned by Massena.
_April 21st._--He destroys their left wing at Landshut, and captures
the magazines, artillery, and train, as well as the communications of
the enemy's grand army, fixing definitely his own line of operations,
which he already directs on Vienna.
_April 22nd._--He descends the Laber to Eckmuehl, gives the last blow
to the Archduke's army, of which the remnant takes refuge in
Ratisbon.
_april 23rd._--He takes that strong place, and forces the Archduke to
take refuge in the mountains of Bohemia.
No. 2.
_May 6th._--On May 1st Napoleon was still at Braunau, waiting for news
from Davoust. Travelling by night at his usual speed he reached
Lambach at noon on May 2nd, and Wels on the 3rd. The next morning he
heard Massena's cannon at Ebersberg, but reaches the field at the fall
of night--too late to save the heavy cost of Massena's frontal attack.
The French lost at least 1500 killed and wounded; the Austrians (under