The history of Napoleon
^ fm 1 "< * iC ■" 'i '^ / \ \ ^ \ ' t 1 ■* V* 1* ^ '• / 1- /,^.. Vi ' THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE m y^*^>%gg^Cig^' Ofneiiil of iLe Army »i Italy. THE HISTORY NAPOLEON EDITED BY rI H? HORNE. ILLUSTRATED WITH M A X Y HUNDUED EXGRAVIXGS ON MOO!), FROM DESIGNS BY RAFFET AND HORACE VERNKT. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON : ROBERT TYAS, S PATERNOSTER ROW. M D C C C X L r V. VCW3 Vi/«rnLi BnoTiiKK* & Co., rniNxtiis and En&b rETKnnoRoroii Cottbt, !36 Fi.fpt SrnrEr, I^ONDO:f. PREFACE. In historical compositions, the chief characters and events of which have produced a powerful influence on men and things, the difliculties attending the task are not so much occasioned by the complexities of the facts, as by the conflict of feelings among various classes of readers. Whenever a truth is discovered, nothing can be easier than to state it; but to state it in the way best adapted to gain due credence among the majority of all parties, yet without compro- mising its integrity, requires the most entire equanimity of thought and feeling. The attainment of this rare condition of mind can seldom be accomplished by any means so efiicient as a full per- ception of the fact that, in most cases, " men's judgments are a parcel of their fortunes ; " for circumstances, rather than the will* determine opinion. These difliculties, however, are enhanced to the extreme, when, as in the history of Napoleon, the chief agents and sufferers are of recent date, and when the events were of a nature to call into play the strongest passions, interests, and opinions — political, social, commercial, philosophical, and religious ; the consequences of which are still fresh in the memory of the world, and still felt strongly by extensive populations. It will be sufficient to instance the great alterations in the system of war ; the final extinction of faith in the old principle of " divine right ; " the establishment of great public works in the countries over which Napoleon's power extended; the vi PKEFACF.. enormous increase of our owni taxation, originating in twenty years of war ; the great amelioration in the jurisprudence of France, — its system of national education, communal regulations, and civil and criminal laws; and the conflict and progression of public opinion throughout Europe. Under such circumstances, to satisfy everybody, is, of course, impossible. To attempt doing this would be short-sighted weakness. Those individuals, however highly-educated, and well-intentioned, who tiike up a work of history, biography, or science, with a desire to find nothing but harmonius replications of what they knew or imagined before, and to derive fresh confirmation of old beliefs; those who are anxious to receive only the information that amalgamates with, and enhances those opinions which they think it most advantageous and correct to adopt; all such individuals ne- cessarily constitute the minority of readers to whom a work like the present is chiefly addressed. Constructed on any pre-determined views, suited to particular parties and classes of opinions, a work of history would be rendered angular, distorted, and temporary, — instead of circular, symmetrical, and permanent. The former method addresses itself expressly to a class; the latter, to the majority of classes in its day ; and, in the present instance, with a deep and hopeful consciousness of the progress of the human intellect, and a corres|)ondingly reverential submission to its final judgment, — to all future classes. The history, tlie first volume of which is now offered to the public, is built up and composed from the same original authorities as those consulted by previous historians and biographers ; with the assistance also of the substantive works of the latter, and of all important works since published, or now in course of publication. From careful ab- htracts and references; from a dispassionate balancing of the single and collective facts, st^itements, opinions, and conjectural probabili- ties—occasionally found in direct opposition among authorities of equal influence and validity — I have sought to attain a fixed equilibrium of general truth. In particular instances, wliicli have been the subject of much contest among opponent partizans, the most authentic ac- counts are given on both sides, with their most obvious conclusions, the writer Ubually stepping in as a moderator, though sometimes leav- PREFACE. vn ing the reader to judge for liimself; but never shrinking, on impor- tant occasions, from plainly displaying (not insisting upon) his own convictions, and placing things in the broadest light of equal-eyed justice. That this attempt has been honestly made, I know; that it has been, hitherto, admitted to be successfully made, by most of the first authorities in periodical literature, the present opportunity is taken for returning all due acknowledgments. The character and actions of Napoleon have never found in this country, as in France — a circumstance by no means extraordinary — what is understood by a mere partisan. Nearly every one of his English historians and biographers have been direct and manfully avowed enemies and denouncers. The constant fear of being " daz- zled by the false glory" (a salutary fear with reference to the glory of all deeds of war) of this particular hero, has led to an opposite extreme, and injured the sight as to various qualities, actions, and facts, which at least claimed always a just, as they often deserved a generous, estimation. The chief exception to the general feeling of unqualified hostility is to be found in Hazlitt, whose earnest, powerful, though somewhat rambling work, written in the full vein of admiration, contains, nevertheless, some of the heaviest animad- versions. These passages have, for the most part, been quoted, as an act of justice towards all parties. Emanating from such an ad- mirer, they must indeed have been deserved ; in other instances, however, I have almost always abstained from using strong language of any kind, my plan being rather to let events take their course, and narrate them as they occurred, without identifying myself, or any one else, in the scene, more than absolutely necessary or inevitable to our common conditions of humanity. It has not been attempted to give a history of France in the stormy time of the Revolution, or in the successive periods of the Directory, the Consulate, or the Empire. The object has been to furnish a clear, just, and succinct view of the integral nature and corresponding- actions of Napoleon ; avoiding, as much as possible, all speculations on motives, and leaving them to be developed by, and deduced from, the entire course of such nature and actions. The violent feelings of the English public having now passed away, a period has already commenced for the exercise of a temperate judgment. viii PREFACE. 1 have also endeavoured not to forestall time, broach theories, or dispense censure or praise; the very few exceptions that occur being unavoidable, either for the sake of clearness of narration, or from the extraordinary nature of the events themselves. The histories of other men, who lived in the time of Napoleon, have been entered upon so far only as they bore a reference to his; and, in like manner, the events of the world's changeful history have been given only so far as they stood in relation to him, influencing his actions, or receiving: from him their form and colour. Whether he fulfilled his destiny in a manner worthy of being designated as true to him- self; or, having the power, he fell short of the good he saw, and acted contrary to liis best convictions ; — this is the great problem which his historians and biographers are bound to furnish the best means of solving. The deep-searching and far-spreading investiga- tions, into which an attempt to form an opinion concerning the con- sequences and results of his actions, would lead us, could not be undertaken without a comprehensive study and voluminous exposition of the moral and political world and its various mutations: they, con- sequently, form no part of the present design. R. H. HORNE. CONTENTS. Chapter 1 1 Birth of Napoleon — His Family — Brienne — Anecdotes — His early Character — Snow-balls — Paris — Gets his Commission — His First Love — Authorship. Chapter II 9 / Corsica — Paoli — His Revolt — Napoleon's Politics — Poverty in Paris — The King and the Mob — Events in Corsica — Promotion — Toulon — Little Gibraltar. Chapter III 21 Alps — Napoleon's Arrest — Robespierre — Boissy d'Anglas — Napoleon's Po- verty— Victories of the French — The Sections — Josephine — Napoleon's Promotion, and Marriage. Chapter IV 35 Napoleon as Commander-in-Chief — State of the Army — Proclamations — Colonel Rampon — Napoleon's First Victory — Causse — King of Sardinia. Chapter V 47 Josephine — La Harpe — Works of Art — Bridge of Lodi — Napoleon's entry into Milan — Insurrection of Pavia — Kellermann — The Directory. Chapter VI 35 Mantua — Venice — Insurrections — Naples — Leghorn — Citadel of Milan — Wurmser — Battles of Salo, Lonato, Castiglione — Junot — Napoleon's Danger — Flight of Wurmser — Third Blockade of Mantua. X CONTENTS. ClIM-TEK \II ^^'' Campaign on the Rhine — Moreau — Jomdan — Archduke Cliarles — Fourth Army of Austria— Alvinzi— Losses of the French— Battle of Areola— Austrians Uetreat— Fifth Army of Austria— Battle of Rivoli— Provera— La Favorita— Flight of the Austrians — Surrender of Mantua. Chapter VIII ^1 Wurmser's Departure — His Gratitude — Tlie Pope hreaks the Treaty — His Army — Napoleon enters Romagna — Battle of the Senio — Napoleon's Clemency — Ancona — Loretto — Tolentino — The Pope submits — Iiujuisition — Treaty of Rome. ClIAPTEK IX 91 Army of the Archduke Charles — Bernadotte — Napoleon at Bassano — Massena crosses the Piave — Passage of the Tagliamento — Pesaro — Chiusa — Retreat of the Archduke — Austria solicits an Armistice, Chapter X 101 Preliminaries of Leohen — Insurrection of Venice — Massacre at Verona — Napoleon's return to Italy — Dissolution of the Venetian Oligarchy. CilAl-TER XI 109 Napoleon goes to Milan — Montebello — Josephine — Love-Letters — Genoa — Anecdotes — Protracted Negociations — Liberation of La Fa)'ette — Unsettled State of Paris — Augereau and Lavalette — Cisalpine Republic — The Valteline. Chapter XII .117 Pichegru — Baboeuf — Eighteenth Fructidor — Moreau — Coimt Cobentzel — Treaty of Campo-Formio — Death of General Hoche — Napoleon at Mantua — Takes leave of the Army at Milan — Departure — Enthusiastic Receptions on his Journej" — Rastadt — Arrives at Paris — Grand Fetes. Chapter XIII 129 Projected Expeditions — Politics in Paris — Madame de Stael — Affair.s of Rome and Switzerland — Napoleon relinquishes the Invasion of England — Egypt — Embarkation at Toulon — Surrender of Malta — Nelson — French Army lands at Alexandria — The Desert. ('HAfTLK XI\ 151 Battle of the Pyramids— Enlranee into Cairo— Battle of the Nile— Change in the ProspeclH of the E.xpcdilion— Napoleon's Arrangements— Revolt at Cairo— Na|)oleon viatU> Suez. CONTENTS. XI ClIAPTKR XV 1G9 Project of tlie Turks — Napoleon's Expedition into Syria — Berthier — March across the Desert — Napoleon's Jealousy — Pauline — El Arisch, Gaza, Ranieh, and Jaffa, taken — Turkish Garrison ])ut to Death — Siege of St. Jean d'Acre — Sir Sydney Smith — Napoleon's Retreat — Story of Poisoning the Sick — Arrival at Cairo — The Turks heaten at Aboukir — Napoleon departs from Egypt. Chapter XVI 195 Enthusiasm in France at Napoleon's return — He arrives in Paris — Josephine — The Directory — State of Parties — Sieyes — Bernadotte — Moreau — Revolution of the 18th and 19th Brumaire — Napoleon First Consul, Chapter XVII .213 First Sitting of the Consular Government at the Luxembourg — Just and Popular Measures — Formation of the Ministry — Debates on the New Form of Government — Sieyes and Ducos retire — Declaration of the Constitution of the Year Eight — Napoleon, Cambaceres, and Lebrun, Consuls — Letter to the King of England — Napoleon resides in the Tuileries — Funeral Honours to Washington. Chapter XVIII 231 New Coalition — Russia deserts the Coalition — The Emperor Paul — Napoleon prepares for War — Anecdotes — Massena in Genoa — Napoleon in Italy — Passage of the Alps — He enters Milan — Passes the Adda — Takes Bergamo and Cremona — Genoa capitulates to Austria — Battle of Montebello— Desaix joins the Army — Affairs of Egypt — Battle of Marengo — Death of Desaix — Armistice — Restora- tion of the Cisalpine Republic — Victories of Moreau — Massena commands in Italy — Napoleon returns to Paris. Chapter XIX 253 Plots against the Life of the First Consul — Death of Kleber — England grants to Austria a Loan of Two Millions — Austria refuses the Treaty with France — Malta surrenders to England — Second Letter of Louis XVI II. to the First Consul — His Reply — Hostilities renewed — Battle of Hohenlinden — Austria sues for a further Armistice — Infernal Machine — Arbitrary measures of the First Consul — Confederation of the North — Treaty of Luneville. Chapter XX 265 Continuation of War with England — Battle of Copenhagen — Death of Paul — Preparations to invade England — Invasion of Portugal — Fulton and the Steam Boat — Battle of Alexandria, and Death of Sir Ralph Abercromby — Capi- tulation of Menou — The Concordat— Return of the Emigrants — Mr. Pitt suc- ceeded by Mr. Addington— Preliminaries of Peace with England — Vigorous and beneficent internal Government of France — Legion of Honour — Peace of Amiens — Napoleon Consul for Life. Xii CONTENTS. Chapter XXI 287 Expedition to St. Domingo— History of the Island— Toussaint L'Ouverture — Conquest of the Negroes by the French— The YeHow Fever attacks the French Army— Suspicious Movements among the Negroes— Toussaint seized and sent to France— Uevolt— Death of General Leclerc— Barbarities of Rochambeau— Death of Toussaint— The French Fleet and Army of St. Domingo suiTender to England. ClIAI'TER XXII 299 Hostile Attitude of France and England — England retains Malta — Affairs of Italy, Germany, and Switzerland — Splendour of Paris, and increasing State assumed by the First Consul — The Wars of the Newspapers — Message to the English Parliament — Napoleon and Lord Whitworth — England begins Hostilities — Napoleon imprisons all the English Residents in France — Seizes Hanover — Occupies Naples — Fortifies Tuscany and Elba — Army of England — Great Prepa- rations in England against Invasion. Chapter XXIII 313 Conspiracy of Georges Cadoudal — Pichegru and Moreau implicated — Con- spirators arrested — The Duke d'Enghien seized and executed — Death of Pichegru — Captain Wright — His Death — Trial of Georges and Moreau — Execution of Georges — Moreau banished — Protests of Foreign Courts — Summary in relation to ilic Duke d'Enghien. Chapter XXIV 333 Napoleon created Emperor — The Imperial Constitution — Protest ofLouis XVI II. — The Emperor visits the Camp at Boulogne — The New Title recognised by the European Powers ; England, Russia, and Sweden excepted — Arrival of Pope Pius VII. at Paris — The Coronation. Chapter XXV 347 Russia assumes a Hostile Attitude towards France — Letter of Napoleon to George III. — Completion of the Civil Code — Napoleon crowned, at Milan, as King of Italy — Third Coalition against France — French Army advances on Austria — Capitulation of Ulm — Napoleon enters Vienna — Battle of Austerlitz — Itetreat of the Emperor Alexander— Napoleon grants an Armistice to Austria. F AC-SIMILES NAPOLEON'S VARIOUS SIGNATURES, WITH EXPLANATIONS OF THEM, COPIED BY PERMISSION FROM THE EXTRAORDINARY COLLECTION IN THE POSSESSION OF M? SAINSBURY. A GENEALOGICAL SKETCH OF THE BONAPARTE FAMILY. Napoleon was born on the 15th of August, 17G9, at Ajaccio, in Corsica. On tlie *23rd of Ajiril, 1779, he was admitted into the Royal Military School at IJrienne, from whicli he went to tliat at Paris. Before his admission, proofs were required to be delivered at the Herald's office of the nobility of his family; which being done, M. d' Hozier de Servigny, of that department, informed Ciiaki.es de BuoNAPAUTr, Napoleon's father, by letter, dated Paris, March 8th, 1779, that his name was in all the records without having the article de prefixed to it ; and that although a decree of the nobility, in the year 1771, gave to his family the name of Bonaparte, he signed De Buonaparte. He also inquired how the Christian name of his son, Napoleone, could be translated into Prencli. At that time Napoleon's father was the representative of Corsica at the court of France. He sent a reply on the same day from Versailles, stating the Republic of Genoa had, two hundred years previously, given to one of his ancestors, Jerome, the title of Egregium Hieronium de Buonaparte, and that the article de had been omitted, because it was of very little use in Italy. That Napoleone was Italian, and that his family name was Buonaparte, or Bonaparte. The Bonapartes are of Tuscan origin. In the middle ages they were eminent as senators of the Republics of Florence, San Miniato, Bologna, Sarzana, and Treviso ; and as prelates attached to the court of Rome. They were allied to the Medici, the Orsini, and Lomellini families. Several of them held important public posts in their native states, and others employed them- selves in literary pursuits at the period of the revival of letters in Italy. A manuscript written by one of the family was lirst printed at Cologne in 1756; and the volume, now in the Royal Library at Paris, contains a genealogy of the Bonapartes, which is carried back to a very remote period, and describes them as one of the most illustrious houses of Tuscany. Napoleon's fother was born in 1745; he married in 1767, and died in 1785, at the age of forty; leaving five sons and three daughters, viz., Joseph, born 1708; Napoleon, born 1769, died 1821 ; Licien, born 1775, died 1840; Louis, born 1778; Jkkumi:, born 178 1 ; Eliza, born 1777, died 1820; Pauline, born 1780, died lh2.'>; and Caroline, born 1782, died 1839. In the year 1785, Napoleon left the Military School of Paris, and was admitted as second lieutenant into the regiment De la Fere ; at that time he thus concluded a letter to his father : — CcL^k^j^jjjii a -ve cj i^-Aoya/^ 99U^ [Votre tres humble Buonaparte fils cadete gentilhoinine a'l' Ecole Royale Militaire de Paris.] Napoleon obtained a company in the year 1789, and in 1792 was promoted to the head of a battalion of infantry of the national volunteers, which were called out for the expedition against Sardinia. On his return from that expe- dition, he commanded the artillery at the siege before Toulon. He signed at that time — After having taken General O'Hara prisoner at the siege of Toulon, on the 3rd of December, 1793, Nafoleon was promoted to the rank of general; and in 1794, he commanded the artillery of the army of Italy. In the early part of the year 1795, he was nominated to serve with the generals of infantry in Vendee. He refused the appointment, and was soon afterwards attached to the military department at Paris. On the 5th of October in the same year, he commanded, under Barras, the army of the Convention against the sections of Paris, and was by them promoted to the rank of a general of division. The Convention shortly afterwards named him to the chief command of the army of the interior; Napoleon had not, up to this period, omitted the letter u in spelling his name. The official letters are headed " Buonaparte, General-in- Chief de r Armce d' Interior ;" and his dispatches are signed — [Citizen Buonaparte,] The last siprnature is at the end of the " Note sur 1' Arraee d' Italic" of three pages, which Napoleon dated thus: — ^^1/ttm "29 Nivose On the 29th Nivose, in the fourth year of the Republic (19th of January, 1796), Napolkon signed like the preceeding his plan for the invasion of Italy, to the Minister of War. He was soon afterwards charged with the execution of his project, and the success of the memorable campaign of 179G was the result of it, proving the correctness of his judgment and penetration. From that period his mihtary superiority was established. In the Memorial of St. Helena (vol. i., p. 132, French edition, 1823), Na- poleon is represented to state that during his youth he signed Buonaparte, after his father, and did not alter his signature until after he was promoted to the command of the army of Italy, to which he was appointed general-in- chief, February 23rd, 1796, and continued to sign Buonaparte up to the 29th of the same month. His principal object for omitting the u was to shorten his signature. Mr. Sainsbury has among the manuscripts in his Napoleon Museum two of Napoleon's letters both hearhifj the same date, viz., "Head-quarters, Paris, 11 Ventose, An. iv. (1st March, 1796). One of them has 11 p.m. added to the date ; both are addressed to the Commissary of War, demanding certain books and maps, which are specified, for his journey. They are signed '* Bonaparte" and " Buonaparte ;" consequently it is not unreasonable to presume that one of these letters bears liis first signature as " Bonaparte," and the other his last a» *' Buonaparte." Napoleon set out from Paris to join the army of Italy on March 11, 1796; and in the first letter he sent to the Executive Directory from his head-quarters, which is directed from Nice, on the 28th, he informs them of having taken the command of the army on the preceeding day, and signs thus : — /^^^^y^^^^" [Bonaparte.] The alteration was from that time generally adopted, and his official letters were headed "Bonaparte, General-in-Chief of the Army of Italy;" and from his head-quarters at Carcare, Napoleon reports the battle of Montenotte, which opened the campaign of Italy, to the Directory at Paris ; this letter is dated April 14th, 1796, and signed: — In his celebrated proclamation at Milan, on the 20th of May, 179(3, Napoleon thus addressed his army, — " Soldiers, you have precipitated yourselves like a torrent from the top of the Appenines. During the campaign of 1813, the Emperor sent an order from Dresden, to thf Major-Gencral IJerthier ; it is dated October 1st, at twelve o'clock. Ge- neral I'elet states, he hesitated for some time before sending it ; the signature ha» been cancelled with the pen twice, and written a third time. 9 One of the most extraordinary of the Emperor's signatures is the fol- lowing, which he gave at Erfurt, on the 23rd day of October, 1813, at twelve o'clock. On the 4th of April, 1814, from Fontainebleau, thus: — On the 9th of September, 1814, from Longone, Isle of Elba, thus From the Isle of Aix, on the 14th of July, 1815, the Emperor's letter to the Prince Regent of England, is signed thus :— tf"^. 10 From Lo^g^vood, Isle of St. Helena, on the 11th of December, 1810, the I^mperor wrote to the Count de Las Casas, who was the companion of his captivity, a consolatory letter, on his being ordered to leave the island. This circumstance gave Napoleon great pain, as it did also the Count. This was liis first si^ature at St. Helena : — The following is the concluding part of Napoleon's Will, which is pi'e- served in the Prerogative Office, Doctors' Commons, London. [Coci est mon testament ecrit tout entire dc ma propre main. — Napoleon. *^^^^rr ^ CHAPTER I. BIRTH OF NAPOLEON HIS FAMILY BRIENNE ANECDOTES — HIS EARLY CHARACTER- SNOW-BALLS PARIS GETS HIS COMMISSION HIS FIRST LOVE AUTHORSHIP. \ihini.,u^'.,ii Napoleon Bonaparte was bom on the ]5th of August, 1769, at Ajaccio, in the Island of Corsica. There is rea- son to believe that his ancestors, on the mother's side, were Neapolitans ; and that on his father's, they were members of certain noble houses of San Miniato, in Tuscany. The majority of his his- torians and biographers endeavour to shew that his descent was illustrious, if not slightly tinged with royalty. The nam.e of Bonaparte stands high among the senators in the " Golden Book" of Bologna ; but there is no proof that Napoleon was lineally descended from that family. The fact is not important ; for inasmuch as Time can easily trace many men back to something of nobility, so the retrospection has only to be extended in order to prove the origin of all men very humble. Whatever qualities were displayed by Napoleon, he did not derive his power from his family, but from his own nature, his own actions, and the circumstances of which he was the creature and the creator. O THE HISTORY OF Charles Bonaparte, the latlier of Napoleon, was a man of good intellect and education ; possessing much eloquence, a dignified address, and unaffected ^'ivacity. He was an advocate in the Royal Court of Assize. He manifested his patriotism and energy in the struggle of the Corsicans under Paoli, against the barter of their country, effected by the Genoese, with the French, through the diplomatic manoeuvre of the Duke de Choiscul. Various circumstances shew that Charles Bonaparte was held in respect by his countrymen, and possessed their confidence. To the scene of warfare in which he had taken so prominent a part, he was accompanied by his wife, Letitia Ramolini, a lady of superior mind, nujch beauty and courage, and who often shared the fatigues and dangers he encountered. The French won the battle of Ponte Nuovo, wliich decided the fate of tlie Corsicans ; and Letitia Ramolini, then enceinte, was compelled to take refuge among the mountains of Ronda, whence she regained Ajaccio in safety. Here, being anxious to attend mass at the celebra- tion of the Assumption, she went forth at an imprudent period ; felt herself overtaken with sudden pains, returned home in haste, but was unable to reach her chamber in time. The mother and her offspring were found lying upon a carpet in an adjacent room, Letitia Ramolini having there given birth to a son. The child was called Napoleon. It is not unreasonable to suppose, "that the harassed life and high- wrouglit feelings of his mother, previously to his birth, might have had an influence on the temper and future fortunes of the son." He was called Napoleon after one of the Italian Bonaparte family. A Saint Napoleone once existed in the Romish calendar, but had fallen out by some accident or neglect. In alter times, the Pope restored the Saint to liis former rank, in compliment to his more fortunate namesake. Many prognostics are reported to have been made concerning Napoleon, some of wiiicii, as is usual, would certainly never have come to light, had he not accompHshed the assumed predictions; while others were evidently founded on close observation of his early character, or on certain precocious indications not easily mistaken. Among the former, we may class the predictions said to have been founded on the peculiar circumstances attending his birth. ]\T. de Las Casas, for instance, having discovered that the carpet on wliich the future conqueror first saw the light, was covered with antitjue figures, illustrative of certain fables or allegories, suggests that tiicy were, perluqxs, some of the heroes of Homer's Iliad. Subsiquent biographers, overlooking the "perhaps," have adopted this fancy. The medical attendant of Letitia Ramohni would, doubtless, have accounted for the unadorned fact by a far more simple process of n-a.son. Among the admissible class of these pre-visions, we must parti- cularly notice the opinion delivered by his great uncle, the Archdeacon NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 3 Lucieii, when on liis death-bed. The arclideacon, who had been the preceptor and adviser of his relations, was always accustomed to consider Napoleon (the second son of Charles Bonaparte) as the head of the family; and so convinced was the dying man of the true grounds of his impression, that he exhorted the elder brother, Joseph, never to forget that fact. Alluding to his childhood, Napoleon said, '• I was an obstinate and inquisitive child. I was extremely headstrong; nothing overawed me, nothing disconcerted me. I made myself formidable to the whole family. My brother Joseph v»as the one with whom I was oftenest embroiled; he was bitten, beaten, abused : I went to complain before he had time to recover from his confusion." To these characteristic traits, we must add that he displayed a vivid intelligence ; rapid comprehension ; a keen, and often a splenetic sensibility ; wilfulness under restraint ; unbounded energy ; and a violent temper. Whether the aggressor or the aggrieved, he generally gained his point. Nobody had any command over him except his mother, who found means, by a mixture of tenderness, severity, and strict justice, to make liim love, respect, and obey her. From her he learnt the virtue of obedience. In 1779, Napoleon obtained his admission to the Military School at Brienne, where he soon attract(id notice by his reserved manners, and the assiduity with which he prosecuted his studies. He devoted himself principally to history, mathematics, and geography. 'SMt^f 4 THE HISTORY OF He spoke oiilv Liic Corsicaii dialect on first entering the college, but speedily made great progress in the French language. He hated Latin. Bourrienne says of liim, " During play-hours, he used to withdraw to the library, where he read with deep interest works of history, particularly Polybius and Plutarch. I often went off to play with my comrades, and left him by himself in the library." His poverty has been said to have subjected him to mortifications among his comrades; they also ridiculed him on account of his country, and twitted him with the obsolete Saint, whose name he bore. They sometimes made insulting allusions to his mother, and this exasperated iiim beyond all bounds. Amidst the contradictory accounts given by biographers of the early character and conduct of Napoleon, a middle course will, probably, bring us nearest to the truth. He appears, at this time, to have been a studious, reflecting, solitary boy, whose premature development of mind, without a corresponding clearness of purposes, and objects to be attained, gave him a contempt for the companionship of his fellows, without inducing satisfaction in himself. Hence he was grave, moody, brusque ; and sometimes morose, from disgust with his masters, his mates, himself, his position, and perhaps with everything else. He felt a power within him, but could not see his way. In spite of his devotion to the exact sciences, the hot imagination of youth got the better of the labours of the understanding, and there was probably a struggle going on within himself, which — considered apart from the good or evil of its future results — might ask some allowance, perhaps some sympathy. The saturnine boy was evidently not suffered to remain unmolested in his solitary moods, as sundry bickerings attest; but in general he withdrew himself from all companionship in silent scorn. If he re- venged himself, he did it openly, and not by any indirect means. He had occasionally to superintend certain tasks or duties. However he disliked his comi-ades, he never reported their misdemeanours ; con- temptuously preferring to go to prison himself. He and Bourrienne were once placed as superintendents of some dutj^ which being neg- lected. Napoleon persuaded the latter to accompany him to prison, rather than report the offenders. They remained ten days in confinement. The first impression he received at Brienne, was of an irritating nature, though originating in circumstances not commonly felt by boys of ten years of age. He obsen'ed a portrait of the Duke de Choiseul hanging in the hall. " The sight of this odious character, who had sold my country," he afterwards said, " extorted from me an expression of bitterness." For this he had to endure much persecution. " I let male- volence take its course," proceeded he, " and only applied more closely than ever to study. I perceived by this what human nature was." NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. O At the same time that Bourrienne was Napoleon's fellow-student, Pichegru was his tutor. It is certain, however, that he made few friends among his masters or his school-mates : it is equally certain that some of the former entertained a high opinion of his intellect, and that he possessed great influence with the latter, notwithstanding their mutual animosities. On one occasion, the cadets had been ordered to confine themselves strictly within their own precincts, at the time of the annual fair held near Brienne ; but, luider the direction of Napoleon, they laid a plot to secure their visual day's diversion. They undermined the wall of their exercising ground, with so much skill and secresy, that, on the morning of the fair, a part of it accidentally fell, and through the breach they instantly sallied to the prohibited amusement.* Many stories have been invented in order to shew the atrocities of Napoleon's early youth. One of these, which was generally believed in England, asserted that he fortified his garden against his comrades ; and, watching an opportunity, fired a train of gunpowder, whereby many of them were seriously injured. Bourrienne says, " The fabrication probably originated in the juvenile affair of the snow-forts and snow-balls. In the winter of 1783-81-, there were immense falls of snow. Napoleon, being prevented from taking his solitary walks, proposed to his comrades that they should sweep and shovel up the snow in the great court-yard, and make horn-works, raise parapets, dig trenches, &c. ' This being done,' said he, ' we may divide ourselves into platoons, form a siege, and I ^\^ll undertake to direct the Sir Walter Scott, vol. iii. chap. 1. b THE HISTORY OF attacks.' The proposal, which was received with enthusiasm, was iinme- diatel}' put into execution. This little sham war was carried on for the space of a fortnight." Napoleon, being one dciy on a visit at the house of Madame de Brienne, heard a lady blaming Turenne for burning the Palatinate, when he immediately replied, " And what of that, madam, if it answered the end he had in view ? " Bourrienne denies the authenticity of this anecdote ; but the reason he adduces against it rather tends to prove the fact. Napoleon was quite likely to have said such a thing. Whatever might have been the assiduity of Napoleon in his private studies and reflections, he made no very marvellous })rogress in the usual routine. Some of his French biographers, with Scott and Hazlitt, sub- sequently, aver that the School was proud of him. It does not appear that there were any scholastic reasons for this, though the Scliool no doubt became proud of the recollection. He, however, attained sufficient height in mathematics to pass his examination for admission to the Military School of Paris. On arriving there, he found the whole establishment on so brilliant and expensive a footing, that he immediately addressed a memorial on the subject to the Vice-Principal of Brienne. He shewed that the plan of education was really pernicious, and far from being calculated to fulfil the object which every wise government must have in view. The result of the system, he said, was to inspire the pupils, who were all the sons of poor gentlemen, with a love of ostentation, or rather with sentiments of vanity and self-sufficiency ; so that instead of returning happy to the bosom of their families, they were likely to be ashamed of their relations, and to despise their humble homes. Instead of the numerous attendants by whom they were surrounded, their dinners of two courses, and their horses and grooms, he suggested that they should perform little necessary services for themselves, such as brushing their clothes, and cleaning their boots and shoes; that they should eat the coarse bread made for soldiers, &:c. Temperance and activity, he added, would render them robust, enable them to bear the severity of different seasons and climates, to brave the fatigues of war, and to inspire the respect and obedience of tiie soldiers under their command. Tiuus reasoned Napoleon, at the age of sixteen, and time shewed that he never deviated irom these principles. Of this, the establishment of the Military School at Fontainebleau is a decided proof.* M. de r Eguille, his instructor in history, is said to have made the following note in his reports of the scholars: — "Napoleon: Corsican in character, as well as by birth ; he will go fir, if circumstances assist him." * BoiinieniK', vol. i. cha)). 2. BONAPARTR, LIEUTENANT OF AKTII.LERY. NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 7 He was as much distinguished for grave and studious habits at Paris, as at Brienne ; but he shewed a disposition to detect and expose abuses in the establishment, and this might perhaps have shortened the period of his residence at the college. He remained not quite a year. He had now begun to mingle a little in society, and attended the literary con- versaziones of the Abbe Raynal, under whom he read a course on legis- lation and political science. In August, 1785, he was examined by the celebrated mathematician La Place, and obtained the brevet of a second lieutenant of artillery in the regiment of La Fere ; being then little more than sixteen years of age. In the beginning of this year, his father died. The regiment of La Fere was stationed at Valence, in Dauphiny, where Napoleon was in garrison. He was well received at the house of a lady in the neighbourhood, named Madame de Colombier. He con- ceived an affection for her daughter ; and the young lady appears to have 8 THF. HISTORY OF found pleasure in liis society, and to have favoured him with sundry promenades in tlie gardens; "where the happiness of two lovers," as Na])oleon used to relate, " was limited to their eating cherries together." Some disturbances at Lyons caused his removal to that city, with his regiment. While here, he narrowly escaped being drowned in the Saone. The cramp seized him while swimming, and after repeated ineffectual struggles, he sank; but the current drifted him against a sand-bank, on which he was found in a state of insensibility by his companions. His regiment afterwards passed to Douay, in Flanders, and to Aux- onne, in Burgundy. AVhile in garrison at this place, he composed a brief history of Corsica, and actually treated with M. Joly, a bookseller at Dole, for its publication. This bookseller went over to Auxonne to transact the business, and found Napoleon lodging in a chamber with bare walls, the only furniture in w^hich was an indifierent bed without curtains, two chairs, and a table standing in the recess of a window, covered ^\ith books and papers ; his brother, Louis, slept on a coarse mattrass in an adjoining room. They agreed about the expense of the impression ; but Napoleon was expecting every moment an order to leave Auxonne, and nothing was finally settled. The order arrived a lew days after, and the work was never printed. This was not his first literary effort. While at Lyons, he had gained a gold medal, from the college, on the theme: "What are the sentiments most proper to be cultivated, in order to render men happy ?" Both compositions are lost, but are known to have abounded in sentiments of liberty, in accordance with the spirit of the day. The Revolution had now broken out, and men's minds were everywhere in a state of ferment. Napoleon has left a vivid record of his impressions, as to the fearfully excited feelings of parties at this period. He had himself adopted the extreme of Repub- lican oj)inions. NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. CHAPTER II CORSICA PAOLI HIS REVOLT — NAPOLEON's POLITICS POVERTY IN PARIS THE KING AND THE MOB — EVENTS IN CORSICA — PROMOTION TOULON — LITTLE GIBRALTAR. Within a year after the commence- \jjiii ■' ment of the Revolution, the venerable Pascal Paoli returned to his native island. He had devoted himself from his youth to the liberties of Corsica, and had lived in England since the period of their total overthrow, in the struggle of 1769, when the whole country was annexed as a province to France. Upon I the passing of the decree, pro- '/»// ' posed by Mirabeau in the Na- tional Assembly, recalling the exiled Corsican patriots, Paoli returned from his long banishment of twenty years, which had been shared by four or five hundred of his countrymen. He was hailed with shouts of enthusiasm on his arrival in Corsica, where he was appointed lieutenant-general in the French service. In 1792, Napoleon obtained leave of absence from his regiment, and passed six months in Corsica. He immediately sought Paoli, who received him as the son of his old friend, and tried, by every means in c 10 THE HISTORY OF his power, to induce hiiu to remain at a distance from the scenes of turbulence which then threatened France. The Revolution had now assumed a fierce and desperate character. In its beginning, it had maintained a lofty aspect, pulling down arbitrary power, abolishing notorious abuses, with little bloodshed (and that little unauthorised), and building up a liberal and tolerably pure system of government, under the form of a constitutional monarchy. But the coalition of foreign powers against the innovation of this new state of thino-s, had made France one vast camp, and the French people were roused to a state of frenzy. Beset on all sides, they prepared for the contest. The frontiers were ordered to be ])ut in a state of defence, a hundred thousand national troops were levied, and the momentous struggle began. Paoli was among the number of those friends of liberty who were shocked at the excesses into which France was carried by the convulsive effort to maintain her new principles. He again conceived the idea of asserting the independence of Corsica, and urged Napoleon to join him in the enterprise. Paoli was at this time nearly eighty years of age. 