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NAPOLEON


[Illustration]


[Illustration: _Napoleon._

_From a portrait by Lassalle._]




  NAPOLEON

  A Sketch of

  HIS LIFE, CHARACTER, STRUGGLES, AND
  ACHIEVEMENTS


  BY

  THOMAS E. WATSON
  AUTHOR OF “THE STORY OF FRANCE,” ETC.


  _ILLUSTRATED WITH PORTRAITS AND FACSIMILES_


  New York
  THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
  LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD.
  1903

  _All rights reserved_




  COPYRIGHT, 1902,
  BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

Set up and electrotyped February, 1902. Reprinted May, 1902; January,
1903.


  Norwood Press
  J. S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith
  Norwood Mass. U.S.A.




  TO MY WIFE

  Georgia Durham Watson




PREFACE


In this volume the author has made the effort to portray Napoleon as he
appears to an average man. Archives have not been rummaged, new sources
of information have not been discovered; the author merely claims to
have used such authorities, old and new, as are accessible to any
diligent student. No attempt has been made to give a full and detailed
account of Napoleon’s life or work. To do so would have required the
labor of a decade, and the result would be almost a library. The
author _has_ tried to give to the great Corsican his proper historical
position, his true rating as a man and a ruler,--together with a just
estimate of his achievements.

  THOMSON, GEORGIA,
  Dec. 24, 1901.




CONTENTS


  CHAPTER                                                           PAGE
        I. CORSICA                                                     1

       II. BOYHOOD                                                    17

      III. LIEUTENANT                                                 37

       IV. REVOLUTION                                                 47

        V. RETURNS HOME                                               58

       VI. FIRST SERVICE                                              70

      VII. AT MARSEILLES                                              86

     VIII. 13TH OF VENDÉMIAIRE                                        94

       IX. THE YOUNG REPUBLIC                                        115

        X. JOSEPHINE                                                 123

       XI. THE ARMY OF ITALY                                         135

      XII. MILAN                                                     148

     XIII. MANTUA                                                    159

      XIV. CAMPO FORMIO                                              175

       XV. JOSEPHINE AT MILAN                                        188

      XVI. EGYPT                                                     196

     XVII. THE SIEGE OF ACRE                                         211

    XVIII. THE RETURN TO FRANCE                                      221

      XIX. THE REMOVAL OF THE COUNCILS                               230

       XX. THE FALL OF THE DIRECTORY                                 242

      XXI. FIRST CONSUL                                              256

     XXII. MARENGO                                                   275

    XXIII. THE CODE NAPOLÉON                                         294

     XXIV. PLOT AND CONSPIRACY                                       310

      XXV. EMPEROR                                                   329

     XXVI. DISTRIBUTION OF HONORS                                    349

    XXVII. JENA                                                      355

   XXVIII. ENTRY INTO BERLIN                                         363

     XXIX. WARSAW                                                    372

      XXX. HABITS AND CHARACTERISTICS                                386

     XXXI. HIGH-WATER MARK                                           412

    XXXII. SPAIN                                                     425

   XXXIII. WAGRAM                                                    435

    XXXIV. THE DIVORCE                                               450

     XXXV. MOSCOW                                                    470

    XXXVI. THE RETREAT                                               491

   XXXVII. IN PARIS AGAIN                                            502

  XXXVIII. METTERNICH                                                514

    XXXIX. DRESDEN AND LEIPSIC                                       523

       XL. RETREAT FROM LEIPSIC                                      543

      XLI. THE FRANKFORT PROPOSALS                                   557

     XLII. THE FALL OF PARIS                                         571

    XLIII. ELBA                                                      583

     XLIV. ELBA                                                      598

      XLV. LOUIS XVIII                                               612

     XLVI. THE RETURN FROM ELBA                                      628

    XLVII. REORGANIZATION                                            635

   XLVIII. WATERLOO                                                  647

     XLIX. WATERLOO                                                  657

        L. ST. HELENA                                                672

       LI. ST. HELENA                                                687

  INDEX                                                              705




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


  NAPOLEON. From a portrait by Lassalle                   _Frontispiece_

                                                             FACING PAGE
  NAPOLEON. From an engraving by Tomkins of a drawing from life
    during the campaign in Italy                                      70

  LETTER FROM NAPOLEON TO GENERAL CARTEAUX, DATED AT TOULON. In
    facsimile                                                         80

  NAPOLEON. From a print in the collection of Mr. W. C. Crane.
    The original engraving by G. Fiesinger, after a miniature
    by Jean-Baptiste-Paulin Guérin. Deposited in the National
    Library, Paris, 1799                                             136

  LETTER FROM NAPOLEON IN ITALY TO JOSEPHINE. In facsimile           160

  JOSEPHINE IN 1800. From a pastel by P. P. Prud’hon                 188

  NAPOLEON. From the painting by Paul Delaroche entitled “General
    Buonaparte crossing the Alps”                                    200

  NAPOLEON AS FIRST CONSUL, AT MALMAISON. From a painting by
    J. B. Isabey                                                     256

  JOSEPHINE IN 1809. From a water-color by Isabey                    338

  MARIA LOUISA. From the portrait by Gérard in the Louvre            460

  LETTER FROM NAPOLEON TO COUNTESS WALEWSKI, DATED APRIL 16,
    1814. In facsimile                                               562

  THE KING OF ROME. From the painting by Sir T. Lawrence             690




NAPOLEON




CHAPTER I


Corsica, an island in the Mediterranean Sea, has an extreme width of
52 miles and length of 116. It is within easy reach of Italy, France,
Spain, Sardinia, and the African coast. Within 54 miles lies Tuscany,
while Genoa is distant but 98, and the French coast at Nice is 106.
Across the island strides a chain of mountains, dividing it into two
nearly equal parts. The <DW72>s of the hills are covered with dense
forests of gigantic pines and chestnuts, and on their summits rests
eternal snow. Down from these highlands rapid streams run to the sea.
There are many beautiful valleys and many fine bays and harbors.

The population of the island was, in the eighteenth century, about
130,000. The Italian type predominated. In religion it was Roman
Catholic.

The history of Corsica has been wonderfully dramatic. Peopled
originally by the Celts, perhaps, the island has been so often
war-swept, so often borne down under the rush of stronger nations,
that the native race almost disappeared. The Greeks from Asia Minor,
back in the dim ages, seized upon a part of the coast and colonized
it. Carthage, in her day of greatness, was its mistress; and then
came Rome, whose long period of supremacy left its stamp upon the
people, bringing as it did multitudes of Italians, with their language,
customs, and religion.

After the day of Rome came Germans, Byzantine Greeks, Moors, Goths,
Vandals, and Longobards. For centuries the island was torn by incessant
war, the Corsicans doing their utmost to keep themselves free from
foreign masters. The feudal system was fastened upon the struggling
people by the chiefs of the invaders. The crags were crowned with
castles, and half-savage feudal lords ruled by the law of their own
fierce lusts. They waged war upon each other, they ground down the
native races. Unable to defend themselves, miserably poor, but full of
desperate courage, the Corsicans fled from the coasts to escape the
pirate, and to the mountains to resist the feudal robber. In their
distress the peasants found a leader in Sambuccio, who organized them
into village communities,--a democratic, self-ruling confederation.
There were no serfs, no slaves, in Corsica; freedom and equality the
people claimed and fought for; and under Sambuccio they totally routed
the barons.

The great leader died; the barons took up arms again; the peasants
appealed to the margrave of Tuscany for aid; an army came from Italy,
the barons were beaten, and the village confederation restored. From
A.D. 1020 to A.D. 1070, Tuscany protected the Corsicans; but the popes,
having looked upon the land with eyes of desire, claimed it for the
Church, and, through skilful manipulations (such as are common in
cases of that kind), the people were persuaded to submit. In the year
1098 Pope Urban II. sold the island to Pisa, and for one hundred years
Corsica remained under the dominion of that republic.

Genoa, however, envied Pisa this increase of territory, claimed the
island for herself, and backed her claim by arms. Corsica was rent by
the struggle, and the Corsicans themselves were divided into hostile
camps, one favoring Pisa, the other Genoa.

The leader of the Pisan faction, Guidice della Rocca, kept up, for
many years, an unequal struggle, showing wonderful courage, fertility
of resource, rigorous justice, and rare clemency. He killed his own
nephew for having outraged a female prisoner for whose safety he, Della
Rocca, had given his word. Old and blind, this hero was betrayed by his
bastard son, delivered to the Genoese, and died in a wretched Genoese
dungeon; and with his downfall passed away the Pisan sovereignty.

A period of anarchy followed the death of Della Rocca. The barons were
unmerciful in their extortions, and the people were reduced to extreme
misery. After many years appeared another valiant patriot of the Rocca
race, Arrigo della Rocca (1392). He raised the standard of revolt, and
the people rallied to him. He beat the Genoese, was proclaimed Count of
Corsica, and ruled the land for four years. Defeated at length by the
Genoese, he went to Spain to ask aid. Returning with a small force, he
routed his enemies and became again master of the island. Genoa sent
another army, Arrigo della Rocca was poisoned (1401), and in the same
year Genoa submitted to France.

Corsica kept up the struggle for independence. Vincentello, nephew
of Arrigo della Rocca, was made Count of Corsica, and for two years
maintained a gallant contest. Genoa poured in more troops, and the
resistance was crushed. Vincentello left the island. Soon returning
with help from Aragon, he reconquered the county with the exception of
the strongholds of Calvi and Bonifaccio. Inspired by the success of
Vincentello, the young king of Aragon, Alfonso, came in person with
large forces to complete the conquest. Calvi was taken, but Bonifaccio
resisted all efforts. The place was strongly Genoese, and for months
the endurance of its defenders was desperately heroic. Women and
children and priests joined with those who manned the walls, and all
fought together. Spanish courage was balked, Spanish pride humbled, and
Alfonso sailed away. Vincentello, bereft of allies, lost ground. He
gave his own cause a death-blow by abusing a girl whose kinsmen rose to
avenge the wrong. The guilty man and indomitable patriot determined to
seek aid once more in Spain; but Genoa captured him at sea, and struck
off his head on the steps of her ducal palace (1434).

Then came anarchy in Corsica again. The barons fought, the peasants
suffered. Law was dead. Only the dreaded vendetta ruled--the law of
private vengeance. So harried were the people by continued feuds,
rival contentions, and miscellaneous tumult, that they met in general
assembly and decided to put themselves under the protection of the
bank of St. George of Genoa. The bank agreed to receive this singular
deposit (1453). The Corsican nobles resisted the bank, and terrible
scenes followed. Many a proud baron had his head struck off, many of
them left the country. Aragon favored the nobles, and they came back to
renew the fight, defeat the forces of the bank, and reconquer most of
the island.

In 1464 Francesco Sforza of Milan took Genoa, and claimed Corsica as
a part of his conquest. The islanders preferred Milan to Genoa, and
but for an accidental brawl, peaceful terms might have been arranged.
But the brawl occurred, and there was no peace. Years of war, rapine,
and universal wretchedness followed. Out of the murk appears a valiant
figure, Giampolo, taking up with marvellous tenacity and fortitude the
old fight of Corsica against oppression. After every defeat, he rose to
fight again. He never left the field till Corsican rivalry weakened and
ruined him. Then, defiant to the last, he went the way of the outlaw to
die in exile.

Renuccio della Rocca’s defection had caused Giampolo to fail. After a
while Rocca himself led the revolt against Genoa, and was overthrown.
He left the island, but came again, and yet again, to renew the
hopeless combat. Finally his own peasants killed him to put an end
to the miserable war, there being no other method of turning the
indomitable man (1511).

Resistance over, the bank of Genoa governed the island. The barons
were broken, their castles fell to ruin. The common people kept up
their local home-rule, enjoyed a share in the government, and were in
a position much better than that of the common people in other parts
of Europe. But the bank was not satisfied to let matters rest there; a
harsh spirit soon became apparent; and the privileges which the people
had enjoyed were suppressed.

Against this tyranny rose now the strongest leader the Corsicans had
yet found, Sampiero. Humbly born, this man had in his youth sought
adventures in foreign lands. He had served the House of Medici, and in
Florence became known for the loftiness and energy of his character.
Afterward he served King Francis I., of France, by whom he was made
colonel of the Corsican regiment which he had formed. Bayard was his
friend, and Charles of Bourbon said of him, “In the day of battle the
Corsican colonel is worth ten thousand men”; just as another great
warrior, Archduke Charles of Austria, said of another great Corsican,
serving then in France (1814), “Napoleon himself is equal to one
hundred thousand men.”

In 1547 Sampiero went back to Corsica to select a wife. So well
established was his renown that he was given the only daughter of the
Lord of Ornano, the beautiful Vannina. The bank of Genoa, alarmed by
the presence of such a man in the island, threw him into prison. His
father-in-law, Francesco Ornano, secured his release.

Genoa, since her delivery from French dominion by Andrea Doria, was in
league with the Emperor of Germany, with whom the French king and the
Turks were at war. Hence it was that Sampiero could induce France and
her allies to attack the Genoese in Corsica. In 1553 came Sampiero, the
French, and the Turks; and all Corsica, save Calvi and Bonifaccio, fell
into the hands of the invaders. Bonifaccio was besieged in vain, until,
by a stratagem, it was taken. Then the Turks, indignant that Sampiero
would not allow them to plunder the city and put all the Genoese to the
sword, abandoned the cause, and sailed away. Calvi still held out. The
Emperor sent an army of Germans and Spaniards; Cosmo de Medici also
sent troops; Andrea Doria took command, and the French were everywhere
beaten. Sampiero quarrelled with the incapable French commander, went
to France to defend himself from false reports, made good his purpose,
then returned to the island, where he became the lion of the struggle.
He beat the enemy in two pitched battles, and kept up a successful
contest for six years. Then came a crushing blow. By the treaty of
Cambray, France agreed with Spain that Corsica should be given back to
Genoa.

Under this terrible disaster, Sampiero did not despair. Forced to leave
the island, he wandered from court to court on the continent, seeking
aid. For four years he went this dreary round,--to France, to Navarre,
to Florence. He even went to Algiers and to Constantinople. During this
interval it was that Genoa deceived and entrapped Vannina, the wife
of the hero. She left her home and put herself in the hands of his
enemies. One of Sampiero’s relatives was fool enough to say to him, “I
had long expected this.”--“And you concealed it!” cried Sampiero in a
fury, striking his relative to the heart with a dagger. Vannina was
pursued and caught, Sampiero killed her with his own hand.

Failing in his efforts to obtain foreign help, the hero came back to
Corsica to make the fight alone (1564). With desperate courage he
marched from one small