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[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected,
all other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's
spelling has been maintained.

Unusual subscripts have been marked with ^, e.g.: V^te for Vicomte.]




[Illustration: From the collection of W. C. Crane. Engraved by T.
Levasseur.

THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON.

Drawn by F. Gerard.]




               THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

                             BY

                   WILLIAM MILLIGAN SLOANE
                     PH.D., L.H.D., LL.D.
        _Professor of History in Columbia University_


                    Revised and Enlarged
                       With Portraits


                         VOLUME III


[Illustration: Editor's arm.]

                          NEW YORK
                       THE CENTURY CO.
                            1916




              Copyright, 1894, 1895, 1896, 1910
                             BY
                      THE CENTURY CO.

                 _Published, October, 1910_




CONTENTS


    CHAPTER                                                       Page

         I. War with Russia: Pultusk................................ 1

        II. Check to the Grand Army: Eylau......................... 12

       III. An Indecisive Victory: Friedland....................... 24

        IV. Napoleon and Alexander at Tilsit....................... 39

         V. The Treaty of Tilsit................................... 54

        VI. The Path of Napoleonic Empire.......................... 66

       VII. The New Feudalism...................................... 80

      VIII. The Empires of Land and Ocean.......................... 97

        IX. French Empire and European Nationality................ 115

         X. The Awakening of Spain................................ 137

        XI. The First Revolt of Nations........................... 153

       XII. Napoleon and Alexander at Erfurt...................... 171

      XIII. The Failure of the Spanish Campaign................... 182

       XIV. The Transformation of Austria......................... 192

        XV. The Fifth War with Austria--Eckmuehl................... 202

       XVI. Aspern, Essling, and Wagram........................... 218

      XVII. The Peace of Schoenbrunn............................... 233

     XVIII. Napoleon's Fatal Decision............................. 244

       XIX. The Austrian Marriage................................. 251

        XX. Rigors of the Continental System...................... 262

       XXI. The Continental System Completed...................... 274

      XXII. The Course of the Peninsular War...................... 282

     XXIII. Birth of the King of Rome............................. 293

      XXIV. Tension Between Emperor and Czar...................... 303

       XXV. The Array of Nations.................................. 313

      XXVI. The Congress of Kings................................. 325

     XXVII. The Invasion of Russia--Borodino...................... 335

    XXVIII. The Evacuation of Moscow.............................. 346

      XXIX. The Retreat from Russia............................... 357

       XXX. The Horrors of the Beresina........................... 368

      XXXI. The Prodigal's Return................................. 378

     XXXII. The Revolt of the Nations............................. 388

    XXXIII. The First Campaign in Saxony.......................... 401

     XXXIV. The Nations in Grand Array............................ 413




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


  The Emperor Napoleon................................. _Frontispiece_

  Map of the Battle of Eylau....................................... 14

  Map of the Battle of Heilsberg................................... 28

  Map of the Battle of Friedland................................... 36

  Napoleon--by Ingres.............................................. 50

  Queen Hortense................................................... 98

  Napoleon in his Study........................................... 146

  Map of the Spanish Campaign..................................... 184

  Joseph Bonaparte................................................ 196

  Map of the Battle of Eckmuehl.................................... 212

  Two Maps of the Battles of Aspern and Essling................... 221

  Map of the Battle of Wagram..................................... 228

  Eugene Beauharnais.............................................. 246

  Napoleon Bonaparte in 1809...................................... 296

  Map of the Russian Campaign, 1812............................... 340




LIFE OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE




CHAPTER I

WAR WITH RUSSIA: PULTUSK[1]

         [Footnote 1: References as before.]

     Poland and the Poles -- The Seat of War -- Change in the
     Character of Napoleon's Army -- The Battle of Pultusk --
     Discontent in the Grand Army -- Homesickness of the French --
     Napoleon's Generals -- His Measures of Reorganization -- Weakness
     of the Russians -- The Ability of Bennigsen -- Failure of the
     Russian Manoeuvers -- Napoleon in Warsaw.


[Sidenote: 1806-07]

The key to Napoleon's dealings with Poland is to be found in his
strategy; his political policy never passed beyond the first tentative
stages, for he never conquered either Russia or Poland. The struggle
upon which he was next to enter was a contest, not for Russian
abasement but for Russian friendship in the interest of his
far-reaching continental system. Poland was simply one of his weapons
against the Czar. Austria was steadily arming; Francis received the
quieting assurance that his share in the partition was to be
undisturbed. In the general and proper sorrow which has been felt for
the extinction of Polish nationality by three vulture neighbors, the
terrible indictment of general worthlessness which was justly brought
against her organization and administration is at most times and by
most people utterly forgotten. A people has exactly the nationality,
government, and administration which expresses its quality and secures
its deserts. The Poles were either dull and sluggish boors or haughty
and elegant, pleasure-loving nobles. Napoleon and his officers
delighted in the life of Warsaw, but he never appears to have
respected the Poles either as a whole or in their wrangling cliques;
no doubt he occasionally faced the possibility of a redeemed Poland,
but in general the suggestion of such a consummation served his
purpose and he went no further. That he had no sentiment about Polish
nationality is self-evident.

After Jena the Czar displayed great activity. In spite of being
compelled to detach eighty thousand men for service against Turkey, he
had got together a second numerous army; Lestocq, with a corps of
fifteen thousand Prussians, had joined him, and he was clearly
determined to renew the war. For a time the French had no certain
information as to whether he would cross the Prussian frontier or not,
and Napoleon at first expected the city of Posen to be the center of
operations. Before long, however, it became evident that the Russians
were drawing together on Pultusk. Displaying an astounding assurance
as to the stability of his power in France, and without regarding the
possible effect upon conditions at home of a second war, at an
enormous distance, Napoleon determined to meet them. With the same
celerity and caution as of old, the various French divisions were led
first across the Vistula, and then over the plains, until in the end
of December they were concentrated before the enemy. During the three
weeks consumed in these operations much besides was done to strengthen
the position of the French and to assure their communications. The
Russians were dislodged from Warsaw, and Thorn was besieged; the
Vistula, Bug, Wkra, Narew, and other rivers were bridged; and a
commissary department was organized. The seat of war was different
indeed from any of those to which Napoleon had hitherto been
accustomed. It was neither as densely settled nor as well tilled as
Italy and Germany, the population was far lower in the scale of
civilization, and therefore fiercer. The inhabitants could easily
strip their villages of the little forage and the few goods they
possessed, and at that season the fields were bare. The roads were of
the worst description; the rivers were deep and broad, often with
swampy banks and treacherous bottoms. In these circumstances it was
almost impossible to secure reliable information, for scouts and spies
were alike at fault.

These new conditions of warfare were further complicated by a change
in the character of Napoleon's army. After Austerlitz many men of
German speech were to be found among the rank and file