Series E — No. 1
Madame.—Napoleon became Emperor on May 18th, and this was the first letter to his wife since Imperial etiquette had become de rigueur, and the first letter to Josephine signed Napoleon. Méneval gives a somewhat amusing description of the fine gradations of instructions he received on this head from his master. This would seem to be a reason for this uncommon form of salutation; but, per contra, Las Cases (vol. i. 276) mentions some so-called letters beginning Madame et chère épouse, which Napoleon declares to be spurious.
Pont de Bricques, a little village about a mile from Boulogne. On his first visit to the latter he was met by a deputation of farmers, of whom one read out the following address: “General, here we are, twenty farmers, and we offer you a score of big, sturdy lads, who are, and always shall be, at your service. Take them along with you, General; they will help you to give England a good thrashing. As for ourselves, we have another duty to fulfil: with our arms we will till the ground, so that bread be not wanting to the brave fellows who are destined to destroy the English.” Napoleon thanked the honest yeomen, and determined to make the only habitable dwelling there his headquarters. The place is called from the foundations of bricks found there—the remains of one of Cæsar’s camps.
The wind having considerably freshened.—Constant tells a good story of the Emperor’s obstinacy, but also of his bravery, a few days later. Napoleon had ordered a review of his ships, which Admiral Bruix had ignored, seeing a storm imminent. Napoleon sends off Bruix to Holland in disgrace, and orders the review to take place; but when, amid the wild storm, he sees “more than twenty gunboats run aground,” and no succour vouchsafed to the drowning men, he springs into the nearest lifeboat, crying, “We must save them somehow.” A wave breaks over the boat; he is drenched and nearly carried overboard, losing the hat he had worn at Marengo. Such pluck begets enthusiasm; but, in spite of all they could do, two hundred lives were lost. This is Constant’s version; probably his loss is exaggerated. The Emperor, writing Talleyrand on August 1st, speaks only of three or four ships lost, and “une quinzaine d’hommes.”