FOOTNOTES:
[1] Rodolph of Hapsburg was the founder of the Austrian family.
[2] His first battle.
[3] Napoleon, with his stockings about his heels, makes love to Giacominetta.
[4] Corsica became by law a French department only two months before Napoleon was born.
[5] The report, in consequence of which Buonaparte received this distinction, is in these words: "M. de Buonaparte (Napoleon), born the 15th August, 1769, height four feet ten inches ten lines; good constitution; health excellent; character docile, upright, grateful; conduct very regular: has always distinguished himself by his application to the mathematics. He is passably acquainted with history and geography: is weak enough as to his Latin diction and other elegant accomplishments: would make an excellent sea-officer: deserves to be transferred to the Military School at Paris."
[6] De Bourienne.
[7] According to some, the last clause ran "die in an hospital," and this was in the sequel interpreted to mean Malmaison—a palace which (like our own St. James's) had once been an hospital.
[8] Berthier used to keep, as a curiosity, a general order, by which three louis-d'or were granted as a great supply to each general of division, dated on the very day of the victory at Albegna.
[9] The same who became afterwards Louis XVIII. of France.
[10] Vallette was cashiered. Augereau was afterwards created Duke of Castiglione, in memory of this exploit.
[11] Buonaparte, to replace all his losses in the two last campaigns, had received only 7000 recruits.
[12] He found among them a wealthy old canon of his own name, who was proud to hail the Corsican as a true descendant of the Tuscan Buonapartes; who entertained him and his whole staff with much splendour; amused the general with his anxiety that some interest should be applied to the Pope, in order to procure the canonisation of a certain long defunct worthy of the common lineage, by name Buonventara Buonaparte; and dying shortly afterwards, bequeathed his whole fortune to his new-found kinsman.
[13] Hence, in the sequel, Massena's title, "Duke of Rivoli."
[14] Such was the prevailing terror, that one body of 6000 under René surrendered to a French officer who had hardly 500 men with him.
[15] The priests had an image of the Virgin Mary at this place, which they exhibited to the people in the act of shedding tears, the more to stimulate them against the impious Republicans. On entering the place, the French were amused with discovering the machinery by which this trick had been performed; the Madonna's tears were a string of glass beads, flowing by clockwork within a shrine which the worshippers were too respectful to approach very nearly. Little ormolu fountains, which stream on the same principle, are now common ornaments for the chimney-piece in Paris.
[16] The Santa Casa, or holy house of Loretto, is a little brick building, round which a magnificent church has been reared, and which the Romish calendar states to have been the original dwelling-house of the Virgin Mary in Nazareth, transported through the air to Italy by miracle. This was for ages the chief resort of Romish pilgrims, and the riches of the place were once enormous.
[17] The armorial bearing of Venice.
[18] Moreau knew it some months sooner, and said so after Napoleon had communicated it to the Directory. This is a suspicious circumstance when considered along with the sequel of Moreau's history.
[19] Mantua, as will appear hereafter, was saved to France under Napoleon's final treaty with Austria; but the events which rendered this possible were as yet unknown and unexpected.
[20] It would be painful to show, as might easily be done, from this correspondence, the original want of delicacy in Napoleon's mind. Many of his letters are such as no English gentleman would address to a mistress. In others, the language is worthy of a hero's passion. "Wurmser," says he, "shall pay dearly for the tears he causes you to shed."
[21] A silversmith, who had given him credit when he set out to Italy for a dressing-case worth £50, was rewarded with all the business which the recommendation of his now illustrious debtor could bring to him; and, being clever in his trade, became ultimately, under the patronage of the imperial household, one of the wealthiest citizens of Paris. A little hatter, and a cobbler, who had served Buonaparte when a subaltern, might have risen in the same manner, had their skill equalled the silversmith's. Not even Napoleon's example could persuade the Parisians to wear ill-shaped hats and clumsy boots; but he, in his own person, adhered, to the last, to his original connection with these poor artisans.
[22] The Directory broke off the negotiation in a most insolent manner, by ordering Lord Malmesbury to quit France within twenty-four hours: this they did in their exultation after the 18th Fructidor.
[23] Before leaving Paris, Buonaparte ordered his secretary to prepare a camp library, of small volumes, arranged under the different heads of Science, Geography and Travels, History, Poetry, Romance, Politics. The "works on Politics" are six in number: viz. Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws, a compendium of Mythology, the Vedam, the Koran, and the Old and New Testaments—all in French.
[24] At this period Egypt, though nominally governed by a pacha appointed by the Grand Seignior, was in reality in the hands of the Mamelukes; a singular body of men, who paid but little respect to any authority but that of their own chiefs. Of these chiefs or beys there were twenty-four; each one of whom ruled over a separate district; who often warred with each other; and were as often in rebellion against their nominal sovereign. According to the institutions of the Mamelukes their body was recruited solely by boys, chiefly of European birth, taken captive, and brought up from their earliest days in all military exercises. These were promoted according to their merits; it being the custom that when a bey died, the bravest of his band succeeded him. The Mamelukes thus formed a separate caste; and they oppressed most cruelly the population of the country which had fallen into their keeping. The fellahs, or poor Arabs, who cultivate the soil, being compelled to pay exorbitantly for permission to do so, suffered the extreme of misery in the midst of great natural wealth. The Cophts, supposed to be descended from the ancient Egyptian nation, discharged most civil functions under the Mamelukes, and had the trades and professions in their hands, but they also were oppressed intolerably by those haughty and ferocious soldiers.
The Mamelukes were considered by Napoleon to be, individually, the finest cavalry in the world. They rode the noblest horses of Arabia, and were armed with the best weapons which the world could produce: carbines, pistols, etc., from England, and sabres of the steel of Damascus. Their skill in horsemanship was equal to their fiery valour. With that cavalry and the French infantry, Buonaparte said, it would be easy to conquer the world.
[25] This manœuvre was first practised on the 12th of August, 1782, by Lord Rodney's fleet; and, as appears to be now settled, at the suggestion of that admiral's captain of the fleet, the late Sir Charles Douglas, Bart.
[26] See the admirable Life of Nelson, by Southey; which will form one of the volumes of this Library.
[27] Djezzar means butcher: he had well earned this title by the mercilessness of his administration.
[28] Sir Sydney Smith, having been taken prisoner and most unjustifiably confined by the French government in the dungeons of the Temple, had made his escape through the zeal of certain of the royalist party, and chiefly of Philippeaux.
[29] The handsome swordsman—i.e. Murat.
[30] De Bourienne, whose curious work has appeared since the first edition of this narrative was published, confirms this statement of Napoleon: but Napoleon, it is obvious, might have received letters which he did not choose to communicate to his secretary.
[31] Crabbe.
[32] The morning after the constitution was announced, the streets of Paris were placarded with the following pasquil:—
| POLITICAL SUBTRACTION. |
| From 5 Directors |
| Take 2 |
| —— |
| There remain 3 Consuls |
| From them take 2 |
| —— |
| And there remains 1 Buonaparte. |
This sufficiently expresses what was considered to be the essence of the new constitution.
[33] When he wrote from Clagenfurt to the Archduke Charles.
[34] Byron's "Manfred."
[35] The worthy Hospitallers of St. Bernard have stationed themselves on that wild eminence, for the purpose of alleviating the misery of travellers lost or bewildered amidst the neighbouring defiles. They entertain a pack of dogs, of extraordinary sagacity, who roam over the hills night and day, and frequently drag to light and safety pilgrims who have been buried in the snow.
[36] The following anecdote is given by Dumas:—"On one of these occasions, when a desperate attack was led on by Soult, there occurred a circumstance as honourable as it was characteristic of the spirit which animated the French. The soldiers of two regiments or demi-brigades, of the army of Italy, namely, the 25th Light, and the 24th of the Line, had sworn eternal enmity against one another, because that, previous to the opening of the campaign, when desertion and all the evils of insubordination prevailed in that army, disorganised by suffering, the former, in which discipline had been maintained, was employed to disarm the latter. The utmost care had been taken to keep them separate; but it so happened that these two corps found themselves one day made rivals as it were in valour, the one before the eyes of the other. The same dangers, the same thirst of glory, the same eagerness to maintain themselves, at once renewed in all hearts generous sentiments; the soldiers became instantly intermingled; they embraced in the midst of the fire, and one half of the one corps passing into the ranks of the other, they renewed the combat, after the exchange, with double ardour."
[37] Sept. 5, 1800.
[38] The man took the noise for that of a salute.
[39] "Napoleon dropped the u in his surname after his first campaign in Italy."—Bourienne.
[40] The poet Campbell has vividly painted the opening of the great battle which followed.
"On Linden, when the sun was low,
All bloodless lay the untrodden snow,
And dark as winter was the flow
Of Iser rolling rapidly:
But Linden saw another sight
When the drums beat at dead of night,
Commanding fires of death to light
The darkness of her scenery," &c.
[41] For the details of the battle of Copenhagen see Southey's Life of Nelson. That conflict has been celebrated, in a noble lyric, by Campbell—
"Of Nelson and the North
Sing the glorious day's renown,
When to the battle fierce came forth
All the might of Denmark's crown," &c.
[42] See Wordsworth's verses, "written at Calais the 15th Aug. 1802," in which the indifference of the people is contrasted with their enthusiasm in the early days of the Revolution.
"Festivals have I seen that were not names:—
This is young Buonaparte's natal day;
And his is henceforth an established sway,
Consul for life. With worship France proclaims
Her approbation, and with pomps and games
Heaven grant that other cities may be gay!
Calais is not: and I have bent my way
To the sea coast, noting that each man frames
His business as he likes. Another time
That was, when I was here long years ago,
The senselessness of joy was then sublime!" &c.
[43] Witness, among other evidences, the noble sonnet of Wordsworth:—
"Toussaint, the most unhappy Man of Men!
Whether the all-cheering sun be free to shed
His beams around thee, or thou rest thy head
Pillowed in some dark dungeon's noisome den
O, miserable chieftain! where and when
Wilt thou find patience! Yet die not; do thou
Wear rather in thy bonds a cheerful brow:
Though fallen Thyself, never to rise again,
Live and take comfort. Thou hast left behind
Powers that will work for thee—Air, Earth, and Skies;
There's not a breathing of the common Wind
That will forget thee; thou hast great Allies;
Thy friends are Exultations, Agonies,
And Love, and Man's unconquerable Mind."
[44] See Wordsworth's sonnet, "22nd Sept. 1802."
"We had a fellow-passenger who came
From Calais with us, gaudy in array,—
A Negro Woman like a Lady gay,
Yet silent as a woman fearing blame;
Dejected, meek, yet pitiably tame,
She sate, from notice turning not away,
But on our proffered kindness still did lay
A weight of languid speech, or at the same
Was silent, motionless in eyes and face,
She was a Negro Woman, driven from France—
Rejected, like all others of that race,
Not one of whom may now find footing there;
Thus the poor outcast did to us declare,
Nor murmured at the unfeeling Ordinance."
[45] Afterwards Sir James.
[46] It was by this book that the two dark stories of Jaffa were first promulgated through Europe: and it is proper to add, that Sir R. Wilson publicly presented a copy to George III. at his levee.
[47] To this period belong Sir W. Scott's song to the Edinburgh Volunteers:—
"If ever breath of British gale
Shall fan the tricolor,
Or footstep of invader rude,
With rapine foul and red with blood,
Pollute our happy shore—
Then farewell home! and farewell friends!
Adieu each tender tie!
Resolved, we mingle in the tide
Where charging squadron furious ride,
To conquer or to die," &c.
And various sonnets of Mr. Wordsworth; such as—
"It is not to be thought of that the flood
Of British freedom," &c.
"Vanguard of liberty! ye men of Kent,
Ye children of a soil that doth advance
Its haughty brow against the coast of France,
Now is the time to prove your hardiment!" &c.
[48] This account was published more than twenty years afterwards, in consequence of a pamphlet by Savary (Duke of Rovigo).
[49] About a year afterwards Captain Wright was found dead in his dungeon in the Temple, with his throat cut from ear to ear. This mystery has hitherto remained in equal darkness; but Buonaparte was far from Paris at the period of Wright's death, and, under all the circumstances of the case, there seems to be no reason for supposing that he could have had any concern in that tragedy.
[50] i.e. Kill-king.
"Lamented hero! when to Britain's shore
Exulting Fame those awful tidings bore,
Joy's bursting shout in whelming grief was drowned
And Victory's self unwilling audience found;
On every brow the cloud of sadness hung;
The sounds of triumph died on every tongue.
Yet not the vows thy weeping country pays;
Not that high meed, thy mourning sovereign's praise,
Not that the great, the beauteous, and the brave
Bend in mute reverence o'er thy closing grave;
That with such grief as bathes a kindred bier
Collective nations mourn a death so dear;
Not these alone shall soothe thy sainted shade,
And consecrate the spot where thou art laid—
Not these alone!—but bursting thro' the gloom,
With radiant glory from thy trophied tomb,
The sacred splendour of thy deathless name
Shall grace and guard thy country's martial fame;
Far seen shall blaze the unextinguished ray,
A mighty beacon lighting glory's way—
With living lustre this proud land adorn,
And shine, and save, thro' ages yet unborn."[52]
[52] "Ulm and Trafalgar," a poem, by the Rt. Honourable George Canning.
[53] Published 27th July, 1806.
[54] Afterwards third Marquis of Hertford.
[55] Afterwards sixth Earl of Carlisle.
[56] Kosciusko himself subsequently disavowed any knowledge of the production.
[57] Afterwards first Earl Granville.
[58] Colonel Napier, p. 25.
[59] Col. Napier, chap. i.
[60] The leopards had been changed into lions in the English shield five hundred years before this! To such small matters could Buonaparte's rancour stoop.
[61] This officer had been born and educated in Germany. He was descended from an ancient Scottish family, exiled for adherence to the Stuarts, in 1715.
[62] He was rescued in Poland by a party of Cossacks.
[63] Hoffman's Account of his own Life.
[64] Blucher was created Prince of Wahlstadt.
[65] Now Lord Lynedoch.
[66] An English détenu, who was then in Paris, says: "During the battle, the Boulevard des Italiens and the Caffé Tortoni were thronged with fashionable loungers of both sexes, sitting as usual on the chairs placed there, and appearing almost uninterested spectators of the number of wounded French brought in. The officers were carried on mattresses. About two o'clock a general cry of sauve qui peut was heard on the boulevards, from the Porte St. Martin to Les Italiens; this caused a general and confused flight, which spread like the undulations of a wave, even beyond the Pont Neuf.... During the whole of the battle wounded soldiers crawled into the streets, and lay down to die on the pavement.... The Moniteur of this day was a full sheet; but no notice was taken of the war, or the army. Four columns were occupied by an article on the dramatic works of Denis, and three with a dissertation on the existence of Troy."—Memorable Events in Paris in 1814, p. 93.
[67] When the King first came to Paris, there appeared a caricature representing an eagle flying away from the Tuileries, and a brood of porkers entering the gate; and His Majesty was commonly called by the rabble, not Louis dix huit, but Louis Cochon (the pig), or Louis des huîtres (of the oysters).
[68] The Emperor Alexander alone preserved perfect self-possession; and, turning to the Duke of Wellington, exclaimed "Eh bien, Wellington, c'est à vous encore une fois sauver le monde."
[69] The allusion is to Marmont's conduct at Essonne, and Augereau's hasty abandonment of Lyons when the Austrians approached it in March, 1814.
[70] Napoleon took the idea and name of this assembly from the history of the early Gauls.
[71] By this contemptuous name his soldiery designated all who had never borne arms. The word dropt once from the lips of one of Napoleon's marshals in the hearing of Talleyrand, who asked its meaning. "Nous nommons pequin," answered the rude soldier, "tout ce qui n'est pas militaire."—"Ah!" said the cool Talleyrand—"comme nous nommons militaire tout ce qui n'est pas civil."
[72] The fiction of the Duke of Wellington having been surprised on this great occasion has maintained its place in almost all narratives of the war for fifteen years. The Duke's magnanimous silence under such treatment for so long a period will be appreciated by posterity. The facts of the case are now given from the most unquestionable authority.
[73] The fact of Wellington and Blucher having met between the battles of Ligny and Waterloo is well known to many of the superior officers then in the Netherlands; but the writer of this compendium has never happened to see it mentioned in print. The horse that carried the Duke of Wellington through this long night journey, so important to the decisive battle of the 18th, remained till lately, it is understood, if he does not still remain, a free pensioner in the best paddock of Strathfieldsaye.
"The godlike Ulysses is not yet dead upon the earth;
He still lingers a living captive within the breadth of ocean,
In some unapproachable island, where savage men detain him."
Odyss. book i. ver. 195.
[75] Très peu aimant.
[76] Louis XVI.!—married to the aunt of Maria Louisa—See Bourienne.