Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Volume II

170

Montholon, tom. iii., p. 235; Jomini, tom. viii., p. 302.

171

Jomini, tom. viii., p. 314; Montholon, tom. iii., p. 239.

172

"Napoleon despatched Louis in the greatest haste to Paris, with an account of what had taken place. Louis left his brother with regret on the eve of the battle, to become the bearer of bad news. 'It must be so,' said Napoleon, 'but before you return you will have to present to the Directory the colours which we shall take to-morrow.'" – Louis Buonaparte, tom. i., p 63.

173

Buonaparte to the Directory; Moniteur, No. 328; Jomini, tom. viii., p. 318; Botta, tom. ii., p. 64.

174

"Sa manœuvre me parut un sûr garant de la victoire." – Buonaparte to the Directory, 6th August.

175

Buonaparte, in his despatch to the Directory, states the loss of the Austrians at from two to three thousand killed, and four thousand prisoners; Jomini, tom. viii., p. 325, says, "three thousand killed, wounded, or prisoners."

176

"That day was the most brilliant of Augereau's life, nor did Napoleon ever forget it." – Montholon, tom. iii., p. 255.

177

See ante, p. 55.

178

See ante, p. 84.

179

"Go and tell your general," said Napoleon, "that I give him eight minutes to lay down his arms; he is in the midst of the French army; after that time there are no hopes for him." – Montholon, tom. iii., p. 246; Jomini, tom. viii., p. 326. But see Botta, tom. i., p. 546.

180

"In the different engagements between the 29th July and the 12th August, the French army took 15,000 prisoners, 70 pieces of cannon, and nine stand of colours, and killed or wounded 25,000 men; the loss of the French army was 7000 men." – Montholon, tom. iii., p. 251.

181

"Your people render themselves daily more worthy of liberty, and they will, no doubt, one day appear with glory on the stage of the world." —Moniteur, No. 331, Aug. 9.

182

"When brought before the Commander-in-chief, he answered only by the word peccavi, which disarmed the victor, who merely confined him three months in a religious house." – Montholon, tom. iii., p. 254.

183

Kilmaine was born at Dublin in 1754. He distinguished himself at Jemappes and in La Vendée, and was selected to command the "Army of England," but died at Paris in 1799.

184

Buonaparte to the Directory, 6th September.

185

Jomini, tom. ix., p. 107; Thibaudeau, tom. ii., p. 5; Montholon, tom. iii., p. 259.

186

Montholon, tom. iii., p. 263.

187

Buonaparte to the Directory, 8th September; Montholon, tom. iii., p. 265. Jomini, tom. ix., p. 114, estimates the prisoners at fully from twelve to fifteen hundred.

188

At the camp of Boulogne, in 1805.

189

Napoleon the same night visited the field of battle, and he told this anecdote of it at St. Helena – "In the deep silence of a beautiful moonlight night," said the Emperor, "a dog leaping suddenly from beneath the clothes of his dead master, rushed upon us, and then immediately returned to his hiding-place, howling piteously. He alternately licked his master's face, and again flew at us; thus at once soliciting aid and threatening revenge. Whether owing to my own particular mood of mind at the moment, the time, the place, or the action itself, I know not, but certainly no incident on any field of battle ever produced so deep an impression on me. I involuntarily stopped to contemplate the scene. This man, thought I, must have had among his comrades friends; and here he lies forsaken by all except his dog! What a strange being is man! and how mysterious are his impressions! I had, without emotion, ordered battles which were to decide the fate of the army; I had beheld with tearless eyes, the execution of those operations, in the course of which numbers of my countrymen were sacrificed; and here my feelings were roused by the mournful howling of a dog. Certainly at that moment I should have been easily moved by a suppliant enemy; I could very well imagine Achilles surrendering up the body of Hector at the sight of Priam's tears." – Las Cases, tom. ii., p. 403. See also Arnault, Hist. de Napoleon; and Thibaudeau, tom. ii., p. 11.

190

Montholon, tom. iii., p. 266; Buonaparte, in his letter to the Directory, says 5000; Jomini, tom. ix., p. 116, reduces them to 2000.

191

Jomini, tom. ix., p. 116; Thibaudeau, tom. ii., p. 54; Montholon, tom. iii., p. 267.

192

Montholon, tom. iii., p. 271; Jomini, tom. ix., p. 126.

193

Moniteur, No. 13, October 4.

194

Jomini, tom. ix., p. 153; Thibaudeau, tom. ii., p. 32; Montgaillard, tom. iv., p. 468.

195

"Gentili and all the refugees landed in October, 1796, in spite of the English cruisers. The republicans took possession of Bastia and of all the fortresses. The English hastily embarked. The King of England wore the Corsican crown only two years. This whim cost the British treasury five millions sterling. John Bull's riches could not have been worse employed." – Napoleon, Montholon, tom. iii., p. 58.

196

It is fair to add, however, that Buonaparte in his Memoirs, while at St. Helena, gives a sketch of the geographical description and history of Corsica, and suggests several plans for the civilisation of his countrymen, – one of which, the depriving them of the arms which they constantly wear, might be prudent were it practicable, but certainly would be highly unpalatable. There occurs an odd observation, "that the Crown of Corsica must, on the temporary annexation of the island to Great Britain, have been surprised at finding itself appertaining to the successor of Fingal." Not more, we should think, than the diadem of France, and the iron crown of Italy, may have marvelled at meeting on the brow of a Corsican soldier of fortune. – S.

197

Alvinzi was, at this time, seventy years of age. He died in 1810.

198

Montholon, tom. iii., p. 345; Thibaudeau, tom. ii., p. 82.

199

Montholon, tom. iii., p. 345; Thibaudeau, tom. ii., p. 109.

200

Jomini, tom. ix., p. 165.

201

Montholon, tom. iii., p. 349.

202

Jomini, tom. ix., p. 170; Thibaudeau, tom. ii., p. 112.

203

"The rain fell in torrents; the ground was so completely soaked, that the French artillery could make no movement, whilst that of the Austrians, being in position, and advantageously placed, produced its full effect." – Montholon, tom. iii., p. 352.

204

"We have but one more effort to make, and Italy is our own. The enemy is, no doubt, more numerous than we are, but half his troops are recruits; when he is beaten, Mantua must fall, and we shall remain masters of all. From the smiling flowery bivouacs of Italy, you cannot return to the Alpine snows. Succours are on the road; only beat Alvinzi, and I will answer for your future welfare." – Montholon, tom. iii., p. 355.

205

"This was the day of military devotedness. Lannes, who had been wounded at Governolo, had hastened from Milan; he was still suffering; he threw himself between the enemy and Napoleon, and received three wounds. Muiron, Napoleon's aide-de-camp, was killed in covering his general with his own body. Heroic and affecting death!" – Napoleon, Memoirs, tom. iii., p. 362.

206

Jomini, tom. ix., p. 180; Thibaudeau, tom. ii., p. 117.

207

Jomini, tom. ix., p. 101. Napoleon estimates the loss of Alvinzi, in the three days' engagements, at 18,000 men including 6000 prisoners. Montholon, tom. iii., p. 370.

208

Letter to the Directory, 19th November.

209

"The French army re-entered Verona in triumph by the Venice gate, three days after having quitted that city almost clandestinely by the Milan gate. It would be difficult to conceive the astonishment and enthusiasm of the inhabitants." – Montholon, tom. iii., p. 370.

210

"You announce the arrival of 10,000 men from the Army of the Ocean, and a like number from that of the Rhine; but they have not arrived, and should they not come speedily, you will sacrifice an army ardently devoted to the Constitution." – Buonaparte to the Directory, 28th December.

211

"The Austrian army amounted to from 65,000 to 70,000 fighting men, and 6000 Tyrolese, besides 24,000 men of the garrison of Mantua." – Montholon, tom. iii., p. 404.

"After the battle of Arcola, the active French army amounted to 36,380 while 10,230 formed the blockade of Mantua." – Jomini, tom. ix., p. 262.

212

Montholon, tom. iii., p. 405; Jomini, tom. ix., p. 263.

213

Montholon, tom. iii., p. 406.

214

See ante, p. 54.

215

Jomini, tom. ix., p. 268.

216

Montholon, tom. iii., p. 410.

217

It is represented in some military accounts, that the division which appeared in the rear of the French belonged to the army of Provera, and had been detached by him on crossing the Adige, as mentioned below. But Napoleon's Saint Helena manuscripts prove the contrary. Provera only crossed on the 14th January, and it was on the morning of the same day that Napoleon had seen the five divisions of Alvinzi, that of Lusignan which afterwards appeared in the rear of his army being one, lying around Joubert's position of Rivoli. – S. – See Montholon, tom. iii., p. 415, and Jomini, tom. ix., p. 284.

218

Jomini, tom. ix., pp. 275, 287; Montholon, tom. iii., p. 408.

219

"This day the general-in-chief was several times surrounded by the enemy; he had several horses killed." – Montholon, tom. iii., p. 415.

220

"The Roman legions are reported to have marched twenty-four miles a-day; but our brigades, though fighting at intervals, march thirty." – Buonaparte to the Directory.

221

"It was after the battle of Rivoli, that Massena received from Buonaparte and the army the title of 'enfant chéri de la victoire,'" &c. – Thibaudeau, tom. ii., p. 195.

222

"At two o'clock in the afternoon, in the midst of the battle of Rivoli." – Montholon, tom. iii., p. 416.

223

Montholon, tom. iii., p. 416.

224

Montholon, tom. iii., p. 417; Jomini, tom. ix., p. 293.

225

"The trophies acquired in the course of January were 25,000 prisoners, twenty-four colours and standards, and sixty pieces of cannon; on the whole, the enemy's loss was at least 35,000 men. Bessières carried the colours to Paris. The prisoners were so numerous that they created some difficulty." – Montholon, tom. iii., p. 419.

226

Montholon, tom. iii., p. 420.

227

Buonaparte to the Directory, 15 Pluviose, 3d February.

228

Louis Buonaparte, tom. ii., p. 60.

229

Letter to the Directory, June 1; Moniteur, No. 264.

230

Letter from Napoleon to General Clarke, 25 Brumaire, 15th Nov. 1796. – "Your nephew has been slain on the field of battle at Arcola. The young man had been familiar with arms – had led on columns, and would have been one day an excellent officer. He has died with glory in the face of the enemy. He did not suffer for an instant. What man would not envy such a death? Who is he that would not accept as a favourable condition the choice of thus escaping from the vicissitudes of a contemptible world? Who is there among us who has not a hundred times regretted that he has not been thus withdrawn from the powerful effects of calumny, of envy, and of all the odious passions which seem the almost exclusive directors of the conduct of mankind?" – This letter, remarkable in many respects, will remind the English reader of Cato's exclamation over the body of his son – "Who would not be this youth!" – S.

231

"Decrès has often told me, that he was at Toulon when he first heard of Napoleon's appointment to the command of the army of Italy. He had known him well at Paris, and thought himself on terms of perfect familiarity with him. 'Thus,' said he, 'when we learned that the new general was about to pass through the city, I hastened to him full of eagerness and joy; the door of the apartment was thrown open, and I was on the point of rushing towards him with my wonted familiarity, but his attitude, his look, the tone of his voice, suddenly deterred me. Not that there was any thing offensive either in his appearance or manner; but the impression he produced was sufficient to prevent me from ever again attempting to encroach upon the distance that separated us." – Las Cases, tom. i., p. 164.

232

Even when before Toulon, he was not held by clear-sighted persons to be a very orthodox Jacobin. General Cartaux, the stupid Sans-Culotte under whom he first served, was talking of the young commandant of artillery with applause, when his wife, who was somewhat first in command at home, advised him not to reckon too much on that young man, "who had too much sense to be long a Sans-Culotte." – "Sense! Female-citizen Cartaux," said her offended husband, "do you take us for fools?" – "By no means," answered the lady; "but his sense is not of the same kind with yours." – S. – Las Cases, vol. i., p. 144.

233

Second Part of King Henry VI., Act 4., Scene 2.

234

"At St. Helena Napoleon had preserved a distinct recollection of this celebrated man. He described his timidity and embarrassment at the sight of the stately retinue of the staff, which quite dazzled him: 'You are here with your friends; we honour learning, and only wish to show the respect we entertain for it!' – 'Ah! general, excuse me, but this splendour quite overpowers me!' He, however, recovered his self-possession, and held with Napoleon a long conversation, which produced in his mind a feeling of surprise, such as he could not for a long time overcome. He was unable to conceive how it was possible to have acquired, at the age of twenty-six, so much glory and science." – Antommarchi, tom. i., p. 368.

235

Antommarchi, tom. i., p. 367.

236

Antommarchi, tom. i., p. 135.

237

Las Cases says, that afterwards the Pope himself touched on the same topic, and was disposed to see the immediate guidance and protection afforded by the consanguinean Saint Bonaventura in the great deeds wrought by his relation. It was said of the church-endowing saint, David King of Scotland, that he was a sore saint for the Crown; certainly, Saint Bonaventura must have been a sore saint for the Papal See. The old abbé left Napoleon his fortune, which he conferred on some public institution. – S.

238

Montholon, tom. iii., p. 382; tom. iv., p. 179.

239

Montholon, tom. v., p. 179.

240

Montholon, tom. iii., p. 384.

241

Montholon, tom. iii., p. 386.

242

Thibaudeau, tom. ii., p. 55; Letter de Cacault à Buonaparte, Correspondence Inédite, tom. ii., pp. 114-125; Montholon, tom. iii., p. 387.

243

Voltaire, in one of his romances, terms the Pope an old gentleman, having a guard of one hundred men, who mount guard with umbrellas, and who make war on nobody. – S.

244

"Arma diu sênior desueta trementibus ævo Circumdat nequicquam humeris, et inutile ferrum Cingitur" —

Æneid, Lib. II.

"He – when he saw his regal town on fire, His ruin'd palace, and his entering foes, On every side inevitable woes; In arms disused invests his limbs, decay'd, Like them, with age; a late and useless aid."

Dryden.

245

Cacault was born at Nantes in 1742. During the Consulate, he was chosen a member of the Senate. He published a translation of Lessing's Historical Sketch of the Drama. He died in 1805.

246

"La cour de Rome, au desespoir, saisirait un fer rouge: elle s'abandonne à l'impulsion bruyante des Napolitains." —Correspondence Inédite, tom. ii., p. 119.

247

Montholon, tom. iii., p. 387.

248

"This is the same thing as happened at Pavia," said the soldiers, by way of demanding the pillage of the place. "No," answered Napoleon; "at Pavia they had revolted after taking an oath, and they wanted to massacre our soldiers who were their guests. These are only senseless people, who must be conquered by clemency." – Montholon, tom. iv., p. 18.

249

Napoleon addressed them thus in Italian – "I am the friend of all the nations of Italy, and particularly of the people of Rome. You are free; return to your families, and tell them that the French are the friends of religion, order, and the poor." – Montholon, tom. iv., p. 19.

250

Jomini, tom. ix., p. 307; Montholon, tom. iv., p. 7; Thibaudeau, tom. ii., p. 220.

251

"Monge was sent to the spot. He reported that the Madonna actually wept. The chapter received orders to bring her to headquarters. It was an optical illusion, ingeniously managed by means of a glass." – Montholon, tom. iv., p. 12.

252

"It is a wooden statue clumsily carved; a proof of its antiquity. It was to be seen for some years at the National Library." – Montholon, tom. iv., p. 13.

253

Jomini, tom. ix., p. 311; Thibaudeau, tom. iii., p. 228.

254

Montholon, tom. iv., p. 16.

255

Montholon, tom. iv., p. 25.

256

For a copy of the Treaty of Tolentino, see Annual Register, vol. xxxix., p. 328, and Montholon, tom. iv., p. 18.

257

"One of the negotiators of the Pope observed to Buonaparte that he was the only Frenchman who had marched against Rome since the Constable Bourbon; but what rendered this circumstance still more singular was, that the history of the first expedition, under the title of 'The Sacking of Rome' was written by Jacopo Buonaparte, an ancestor of him who executed the second." – Las Cases, tom. i., p. 98.

258

"The Directory adopted the most insulting forms in communicating with the Pope; the general wrote to him with respect. The Directory endeavoured to overthrow the authority of the Pope; Napoleon preserved it. The Directory banished and proscribed priests; Napoleon commanded his soldiers, wherever they might fall in with them, to remember that they were Frenchmen and their brothers." – Las Cases, tom. i., p. 170.

259

Montholon, tom. iv., p. 25; Thibaudeau, tom. ii., p. 287.

260

Botta, tom. ii., p. 199; Thibaudeau, tom. ii., p. 239.

261

For an interesting sketch of the republic of San Marino, see Seward's Anecdotes of Distinguished Persons, vol. iii., p. 276.

262

Botta, tom. ii., p. 252; Daru, Hist. de Venise, tom. v., p. 544.

263

Montholon, tom. iv., p. 130.

264

"The Aulic Council at Vienna, that pernicious tribunal which, in the Seven Years' War, called Laudon to account for taking Schweidnitz without orders, has destroyed the schemes of many an Austrian general, for though plans of offensive operations may succeed when concerted at home, it is impossible to frame orders for every possible contingency." – Gentz, on the Fall of Prussia.

265

At Bassano, on the 9th of March, Buonaparte thus addressed the troops – "Soldiers! the taking of Mantua has put an end to the war of Italy. You have been victorious in fourteen pitched battles and seventy actions; you have taken 100,000 prisoners, 500 field-pieces, 2000 heavy cannon, and four pontoon trains. The contributions laid on the countries you have conquered have fed, maintained, and paid the army; besides which you have sent thirty millions to the minister of finance for the use of the public treasury. You have enriched the Museum of Paris with 300 masterpieces of the arts of ancient and modern Italy, which it had required thirty centuries to produce. You have conquered for the Republic the finest countries in Europe. The Kings of Sardinia and Naples, the Pope, and the Duke of Parma, are separated from the coalition. You have expelled the English from Leghorn, Genoa, and Corsica. Yet higher destinies await you! You will prove yourselves worthy of them! Of all the foes who combined to stifle the Republic in its birth, the Emperor alone remains before you," &c.

266

"The river is pretty deep, and a bridge would have been desirable; but the good-will of the soldiers supplied that deficiency. A drummer was the only person in danger, and he was saved by a woman who swam after him." – Montholon, tom. iv., p. 73.

267

Montholon, tom. iv., p. 72; Jomini, tom. x., p. 33.

268

Jomini, tom. x., p, 38; Montholon, tom. iv., p. 77.

269

Montholon, tom. iv., p. 81.

270

"No extraordinary contribution was levied, and the inhabitants gave no occasion for complaint of any kind. The English merchandise at Trieste was confiscated. Quicksilver, to the value of several millions, from the mine of Idria, was found in the imperial warehouses." – Montholon, tom. iv., p. 82.

271

Jomini, tom. x., p. 56; Montholon, tom. iv., p. 83.

272

See the report of the agents of the Venetian government. – Daru, tom. v., p. 584. Napoleon says, "the fury of the people carried them so far as to murder four hundred sick in the hospitals." – Montholon, tom. iv., p. 133.

273

Montholon, tom. iv., p. 91.

274

Montholon, tom. iv., p. 101.

275

Buonaparte first mentions this circumstance as having taken place at Leoben, afterwards at the definitive treaty of Campo Formio. The effect is the same, wherever the words were spoken. – S.

276

"On the 27th of April, the Marquis de Gallo presented the preliminaries, ratified by the Emperor, to Napoleon at Gratz. It was in one of these conferences, that one of the plenipotentiaries, authorised by an autograph letter of the Emperor, offered Napoleon to procure him, on the conclusion of a peace, a sovereignty of 250,000 souls in Germany, for himself and his family, in order to place him beyond the reach of republican ingratitude. The general smiled, he desired the plenipotentiary to thank the Emperor for this proof of the interest he took in his welfare, and said, that he wished for no greatness or riches, unless conferred on him by the French people." – Montholon, tom. iv., p. 103.