Napoleon's Letters to Josephine, 1796-1812
Hiller) the same number killed and 7000 prisoners. Pelet defends
Massena, and quotes the bulletin of May 4th (omitted from the
_Correspondence_): "It is one of the finest feats of arms of which
history can preserve the memory! The traveller will stop and say, 'It
is here, it is here, in these superb positions, that an army of 35,000
Austrians was routed by two French divisions'" (Pelet, ii. 225).
Lejeune, and most writers, blame Massena, referring to the Emperor's
letter of May 1st in Pelet's Appendix (vol. ii.), but not in the
_Correspondence_.
Between April 17th and May 6th there is no letter to Josephine
preserved, but plenty to Eugene, and all severe--not so much for
incapacity as for not keeping the Emperor advised of what was really
happening. On May 6th he had received no news for over a week.
_The ball that touched me_--_i.e._ at Ratisbon. This was the second
time Napoleon had been wounded in battle--the first time by an
English bayonet at Toulon. On the present occasion (April 23rd)
Meneval seems to be the best authority: "Napoleon was seated on a
spot from which he could see the attack on the town of Ratisbon. He
was beating the ground with his riding-whip,[74] when a bullet,
supposed to have been fired from a Tyrolean carbine, struck him on the
big toe (Marbot says 'right ankle,' which is correct). The news of
his wound spread rapidly[75] from file to file, and he was forced
to mount on horseback to show himself to his troops. Although his
boot had not been cut the contusion was a very painful one," and in
the first house he went to for a moment's rest, he fainted. The next
day, however, he saw the wounded and reviewed his troops as usual,
and Lejeune has preserved a highly characteristic story, somewhat
similar to an experience of the Great Frederick's: "When he had
reached the seventh or eighth sergeant the Emperor noticed a
handsome young fellow with fine but stern-looking eyes and of
resolute and martial bearing, who made his musket ring again as he
presented arms. 'How many wounds?' inquired the Emperor. 'Thirty,'
replied the sergeant. 'I am not asking you your age,' said the Emperor
graciously; 'I am asking how many wounds you have received.' Raising
his voice, the sergeant again replied with the one word, 'Thirty.'
Annoyed at this reply, the Emperor turned to the colonel and said,
'The man does not understand; he thinks I am asking about his
age.' 'He understands well enough, sire,' was the reply; 'he has been
wounded thirty times.' 'What!' exclaimed the Emperor, 'you have been
wounded so often and have not got the cross!' The sergeant looked
down at his chest, and seeing that the strap of his cartridge-pouch
hid his decoration, he raised it so as to show the cross. He said
to the Emperor, with great earnestness, 'Yes, I've got one; but I've
merited a dozen!' The Emperor, who was always pleased to meet
spirited fellows such as this, pronounced the sacramental words,
'I make you an officer!' 'That's right, Emperor,' said the new
sub-lieutenant as he proudly drew himself up; 'you couldn't have
done better!'"
No. 3.
Almost an exact duplicate of this letter goes on to Paris to
Cambaceres, as also of No. 4. The moment the Emperor had heard that
the Archduke had left Budweiss and was going by the circuitous route
_via_ Krems to Vienna, he left Enns (May 7th) and reached Moelk the
same evening. Seeing a camp of the enemy on the other side of the
river he sends Marbot with a sergeant and six picked men to kidnap a
few Austrians during the night. The foray is successful, and three are
brought before Napoleon, one weeping bitterly. The Emperor asked the
reason, and found it was because he had charge of his master's girdle,
and would be thought to have robbed him. The Emperor had him set free
and ferried across the river, saying, "We must honour and aid virtue
wherever it shows itself." The next day he started for Saint-Polten
(already evacuated by Hiller). On his way he saw the ruins of
Dirnstein Castle, where Richard Coeur de Lion had been imprisoned. The
Emperor's comments were interesting, but are now hackneyed, and are in
most histories and memoirs--the parent source being Pelet (vol. ii.
246).
No. 4.
_Schoenbrunn_, situated a mile from Vienna, across the little river of
that name. Constant thus describes it: "Built in 1754 by the
Empress Marie Therese, Schoenbrunn had an admirable position; its
architecture, if defective and irregular, was yet of a majestic,
imposing type. To reach it one has to cross the bridge across the
little river Vienna. Four stone sphinxes ornament this bridge, which
is very large and well built. Facing the bridge there is a handsome
gate opening on to a large courtyard, spacious enough for seven or
eight thousand men to manoeuvre in. The courtyard is in the form
of a quadrangle surrounded by covered galleries and ornamented with
two large basins, in which are marble statues. On both sides of
the gateway are two huge obelisks of pink stone surmounted by gilt
eagles.
"In German, Schoenbrunn means 'fair spring,' and the name is derived
from a fresh and sparkling spring which is situated in the park. It
wells forth from a little mound on which a tiny grotto has been built,
carved within so as to resemble stalactites. Inside the grotto is a
recumbent naiad holding a horn, from which the water falls down into a
marble basin. In summer this little nook is deliciously cool.
"The interior of the palace merits nothing but praise. The furniture
is sumptuous, and in taste both original and distinguished. The
Emperor's bedroom (the only place in the whole edifice where there was
a chimney) was upholstered in Chinese lacquer-wood of great antiquity,
yet the painting and gilding were still quite fresh. The study
adjoining was decorated in a like way. All these apartments, except
the bedroom, were heated in winter by immense stoves, which sadly
spoilt the effect of the other furniture. Between the study and the
bedroom there was a strange apparatus called a 'flying chair,' a sort
of mechanical seat, which had been constructed for the Empress Marie
Therese, and which served to transport her from one floor to another,
so that she was not obliged to go up and down the staircase like every
one else. The machine was worked in the same way as at theatres, by
cords, pulleys, and a counter-weight." The Emperor drank a glassful
from the beautiful spring, Schoen Brunn, every morning. Napoleon found
the people of Vienna less favourable to the French than in 1805; and
Count Rapp told him "the people were everywhere tired of us and of our
victories." "He did not like these sort of reflections."
_May 12th._--On May 13th is dated the _seventh_ bulletin of the
army of Germany, but none of the Bulletins 2 to 6 are in the
_Correspondence_. It states that on the 10th he is before Vienna; the
Archduke Maximilian refuses to surrender; on the 11th, at 9 P.M., the
bombardment commences, and by daybreak the city capitulated, and the
Archduke fled. In his proclamation Napoleon blamed him and the
house of Austria for the bombardment. "While fleeing from the city,
their adieux to the inhabitants have been murder and arson; like
Medea, they have with their own hands slain their children." The
Viennese had sworn to emulate their ancestors in 1683, and the heroes
of Saragossa. But Alison (than whom none can do the "big bow-wow"
style better) has a thoughtful comment on what really occurred. "All
history demonstrates that there is one stage of civilisation when the
inhabitants of a metropolis are capable of such a sacrifice in defence
of their country, and only one; and that when passed, it is never
recovered. The event has proved that the Russians, in 1812, were in
the state of progress when such a heroic act was possible, but
that the inhabitants of Vienna and Paris had passed it. Most
certainly the citizens of London would never have buried themselves
under the ruins of the Bank, the Treasury, or Leadenhall Street
before capitulating to Napoleon." 1870 and the siege of Paris modify
this judgment; but the Prussian bombardment came only at the last,
and barely reached the centre of the city.
No. 5.
_Ebersdorf._--Written five days after the murderous battle of Essling.
Montgaillard, whose temper and judgment, as Alison remarks, are not
equal to his talents, cannot resist a covert sneer (writing under the
Bourbons) at Napoleon's generalship on this occasion, although he adds
a veneer by reminding us that Caesar was defeated at Dyrrachium,
Turenne at Marienthal, Eugene at Denain, Frederick the Great at Kolin.
The crossing of the river was one which none but a victorious army,
with another[76] about to join it, could afford to risk, but which
having effected, the French had to make the best of. As Napoleon said
in his tenth bulletin, "The passage of a river like the Danube, in
front of an enemy knowing perfectly the localities, and having the
inhabitants on its side, is one of the greatest operations of war
which it is possible to conceive." The Danube hereabouts is a thousand
yards broad, and thirty feet deep. But the rising of its water
fourteen feet in three days was what no one had expected. At Ebersdorf
the first branch of the Danube was 500 yards across to an islet,
thence 340 yards across the main current to Lobau, the vast island
three miles broad and nearly three miles long, separated from the
farther bank by another 150 yards of Danube. Bertrand had made
excellent bridges, but on the 22nd the main one was carried away by a
floating mill.
_Eugene ... has completely performed the task._--At the commencement
of the campaign the Viceroy was taken unprepared. The Archduke John,
exactly his own age (twenty-seven), was burning with hatred of France.
Eugene had the impudence, with far inferior forces, to attack him at
Sacile on April 16th, but was repulsed with a loss (including
prisoners) of 6000 men. It is now necessary to retire, and the
Archduke follows him leisurely, almost within sight of Verona. By the
end of April the news of Eckmuehl has reached both armies, and by May
1st the Austrians are in full retreat. As usual, Napoleon has already
divined their altered plan of campaign, and writes from Braunau on
this very day, "I doubt not that the enemy may have retired before
you; it is necessary to pursue him with activity, whilst coming to
join me as soon as possible _via_ Carinthia. The junction with my army
will probably take place beyond Bruck. It is probable I shall be at
Vienna by the 10th to the 15th of May." It is the successful
performance of this task of joining him and of driving back the enemy
to which Napoleon alludes in the letter. The Viceroy had been reproved
for fighting at Sacile without his cavalry, for his precipitous
retreat on Verona; and only two days earlier the Emperor had told him
that if affairs went worse he was to send for the King of Naples
(Murat) to take command. "I am no longer grieved at the blunders you
have committed, but because you do not write to me, and give me no
chance of advising you, and even of regulating my own affairs here
conformably." On May 8th Eugene defeats the Austrians on the Piave,
and the Archduke John loses nearly 10,000 men and 15 cannon. Harassed
in their retreat, they regain their own territory on May 14th--the day
after the capitulation of Vienna. Henceforward Eugene with part of the
army, and Macdonald with the rest, force their way past all
difficulties, so that when the junction with the Grand Army occurs at
Bruck, Napoleon sends (May 27th) the following proclamation: "Soldiers
of the army of Italy, you have gloriously attained the goal that I
marked out for you.... Surprised by a perfidious enemy before your
columns were united, you had to retreat to the Adige. But when you