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 slopes 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.