London G. Bell and Sons, Ltd. 1910
POST 8VO EDITION, ILLUSTRATED
First Published, December 1901.
Second Edition, revised, March 1902.
Third Edition, revised, January 1903.
Fourth Edition, revised, September 1907.
Reprinted, January 1910.
CROWN 8VO EDITION
First Published, September 1904.
Reprinted, October 1907; July 1910.
DEDICATED TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD ACTON, K.C.V.O., D.C.L., LL.D. REGIUS PROFESSOR OF MODERN HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, IN ADMIRATION OF HIS PROFOUND HISTORICAL LEARNING, AND IN GRATITUDE FOR ADVICE AND HELP GENEROUSLY GIVEN.
[pg.VII]
Preface
An apology seems to be called for from anyone who gives to the world a new Life of Napoleon I. My excuse must be that for many years I have sought to revise the traditional story of his career in the light of facts gleaned from the British Archives and of the many valuable materials that have recently been published by continental historians. To explain my manner of dealing with these sources would require an elaborate critical Introduction; but, as the limits of my space absolutely preclude any such attempt, I can only briefly refer to the most important topics.
To deal with the published sources first, I would name as of chief importance the works of MM. Aulard, Chuquet, Houssaye, Sorel, and Vandal in France; of Herren Beer, Delbrück, Fournier, Lehmann, Oncken, and Wertheimer in Germany and Austria; and of Baron Lumbroso in Italy. I have also profited largely by the scholarly monographs or collections of documents due to the labours of the "Société d'Histoire Contemporaine," the General Staff of the French Army, of MM. Bouvier, Caudrillier, Capitaine "J.G.," Lévy, Madelin, Sagnac, Sciout, Zivy, and others in France; and of Herren Bailleu, Demelitsch, Hansing, Klinkowstrom, Luckwaldt, Ulmann, and others in Germany. Some of the recently published French Memoirs dealing with those times are not devoid of value, though this class of literature is to be used with caution. The new letters of Napoleon published by M. Léon Lecestre and M. Léonce de Brotonne [pg.VIII] have also opened up fresh vistas into the life of the great man; and the time seems to have come when we may safely revise our judgments on many of its episodes.
But I should not have ventured on this great undertaking, had I not been able to contribute something new to Napoleonic literature. During a study of this period for an earlier work published in the "Cambridge Historical Series," I ascertained the great value of the British records for the years 1795-1815. It is surely discreditable to our historical research that, apart from the fruitful labours of the Navy Records Society, of Messrs. Oscar Browning and Hereford George, and of Mr. Bowman of Toronto, scarcely any English work has appeared that is based on the official records of this period. Yet they are of great interest and value. Our diplomatic agents then had the knack of getting at State secrets in most foreign capitals, even when we were at war with their Governments; and our War Office and Admiralty Records have also yielded me some interesting "finds." M. Lévy, in the preface to his "Napoléon intime" (1893), has well remarked that "the documentary history of the wars of the Empire has not yet been written. To write it accurately, it will be more important thoroughly to know foreign archives than those of France." Those of Russia, Austria, and Prussia have now for the most part been examined; and I think that I may claim to have searched all the important parts of our Foreign Office Archives for the years in question, as well as for part of the St. Helena period. I have striven to embody the results of this search in the present volumes as far as was compatible with limits of space and with the narrative form at which, in my judgment, history ought always to aim.
On the whole, British policy comes out the better the [pg.IX] more fully it is known. Though often feeble and vacillating, it finally attained to firmness and dignity; and Ministers closed the cycle of war with acts of magnanimity towards the French people which are studiously ignored by those who bid us shed tears over the martyrdom of St. Helena. Nevertheless, the splendour of the finale must not blind us to the flaccid eccentricities that made British statesmanship the laughing stock of Europe in 1801-3, 1806-7, and 1809. Indeed, it is questionable whether the renewal of war between England and Napoleon in 1803 was due more to his innate forcefulness or to the contempt which he felt for the Addington Cabinet. When one also remembers our extraordinary blunders in the war of the Third Coalition, it seems a miracle that the British Empire survived that life and death struggle against a man of superhuman genius who was determined to effect its overthrow. I have called special attention to the extent and pertinacity of Napoleon's schemes for the foundation of a French Colonial Empire in India, Egypt, South Africa, and Australia; and there can be no doubt that the events of the years 1803-13 determined, not only the destinies of Europe and Napoleon, but the general trend of the world's colonization.
As it has been necessary to condense the story of Napoleon's life in some parts, I have chosen to treat with special brevity the years 1809-11, which may be called the constans aetas of his career, in order to have more space for the decisive events that followed; but even in these less eventful years I have striven to show how his Continental System was setting at work mighty economic forces that made for his overthrow, so that after the débâcle of 1812 it came to be a struggle of Napoleon and France contra mundum. [pg.X]
While not neglecting the personal details of the great man's life, I have dwelt mainly on his public career. Apart from his brilliant conversations, his private life has few features of abiding interest, perhaps because he early tired of the shallowness of Josephine and the Corsican angularity of his brothers and sisters. But the cause also lay in his own disposition. He once said to M. Gallois: "Je n'aime pas beaucoup les femmes, ni le jeu—enfin rien: je suis tout à fait un être politique." In dealing with him as a warrior and statesman, and in sparing my readers details as to his bolting his food, sleeping at concerts, and indulging in amours where for him there was no glamour of romance, I am laying stress on what interested him most—in a word, I am taking him at his best.
I could not have accomplished this task, even in the present inadequate way, but for the help generously accorded from many quarters. My heartfelt thanks are due to Lord Acton, Regius Professor of Modern History in the University of Cambridge, for advice of the highest importance; to Mr. Hubert Hall of the Public Record Office, for guidance in my researches there; to Baron Lumbroso of Rome, editor of the "Bibliografia ragionata dell' Epoca Napoleonica," for hints on Italian and other affairs; to Dr. Luckwaldt, Privat Docent of the University of Bonn, and author of "Oesterreich und die Anfänge des Befreiungs-Krieges," for his very scholarly revision of the chapters on German affairs; to Mr. F.H.E. Cunliffe, M.A., Fellow of All Souls' College, Oxford, for valuable advice on the campaigns of 1800, 1805, and 1806; to Professor Caudrillier of Grenoble, author of "Pichegru," for information respecting the royalist plot; and to Messrs. J.E. Morris, M.A., and E.L.S. Horsburgh, B.A., for detailed communications concerning Waterloo, [pg.XI] The nieces of the late Professor Westwood of Oxford most kindly allowed the facsimile of the new Napoleon letter, printed opposite p. 156 of vol. i., to be made from the original in their possession; and Miss Lowe courteously placed at my disposal the papers of her father relating to the years 1813-15, as well as to the St. Helena period. I wish here to record my grateful obligations for all these friendly courtesies, which have given value to the book, besides saving me from many of the pitfalls with which the subject abounds. That I have escaped them altogether is not to be imagined; but I can honestly say, in the words of the late Bishop of London, that "I have tried to write true history."
J.H.R.
[NOTE.—The references to Napoleon's "Correspondence" in the notes are to the official French edition, published under the auspices of Napoleon III. The "New Letters of Napoleon" are those edited by Léon Lecestre, and translated into English by Lady Mary Loyd, except in a very few cases where M. Léonce de Brotonne's still more recent edition is cited under his name. By "F.O.," France, No.——, and "F.O.," Prussia, No.——, are meant the volumes of our Foreign Office despatches relating to France and Prussia. For the sake of brevity I have called Napoleon's Marshals and high officials by their names, not by their titles: but a list of these is given at the close of vol. ii.] [pg.XII]
Preface to the Third Edition
The demand for this work so far exceeded my expectations that I was unable to make any considerable changes in the second edition, issued in March, 1902; and circumstances again make it impossible for me to give the work that thorough recension which I should desire. I have, however, carefully considered the suggestions offered by critics, and have adopted them in some cases. Professor Fournier of Vienna has most kindly furnished me with details which seem to relegate to the domain of legend the famous ice catastrophe at Austerlitz; and I have added a note to this effect on p. 50 of vol. ii. On the other hand, I may justly claim that the publication of Count Balmain's reports relating to St. Helena has served to corroborate, in all important details, my account of Napoleon's captivity.
It only remains to add that I much regret the omission of Mr. Oman's name from II. 12-13 of page viii of the Preface, an omission rendered all the more conspicuous by the appearance of the first volume of his "History of the Peninsular War" in the spring of this year.
J.H.R.
October, 1902.
Notes have been added at the end of ch. v., vol. i.; chs. xxii., xxiii., xxviii., xxix., xxxv., vol. ii.; and an Appendix on the Battle of Waterloo has been added on p. 577, vol. ii.
Contents
| CHAPTER | page | ||
| PREFACE | VII | ||
| NOTE ON THE REPUBLICAN CALENDAR | XV | ||
| VOLUME I | |||
| I. PARENTAGE AND EARLY YEARS | 1 | ||
| II. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND CORSICA | 24 | ||
| III. TOULON | 44 | ||
| IV. VENDÉMIAIRE | 57 | ||
| V. THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN (1796) | 77 | ||
| VI. THE FIGHTS FOR MANTUA | 105 | ||
| VII. LEOBEN TO CAMPO FORMIO | 140 | ||
| VIII. EGYPT | 174 | ||
| IX. SYRIA | 201 | ||
| X. BRUMAIRE | 216 | ||
| XI. MARENGO: LUNÉVILLE | 240 | ||
| XII.THE NEW INSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE | 266 | ||
| XIII. THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE | 302 | ||
| XIV. THE PEACE OF AMIENS | 331 | ||
| XV. A FRENCH COLONIAL EMPIRE: ST. DOMINGO--LOUISIANA--INDIA--AUSTRALIA | 355 | ||
| XVI. NAPOLEON'S INTERVENTIONS | 386 | ||
| XVII. THE RENEWAL OF WAR | 401 | ||
| XVIII. EUROPE AND THE BONAPARTES | 430 | ||
| XIX. THE ROYALIST PLOT | 446 | ||
| XX. THE DAWN OF THE EMPIRE | 465 | ||
| XXI. THE BOULOGNE FLOTILLA | 462 | ||
| XXII. APPENDIX: REPORTS HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED ON (a) THE SALE OF LOUISIANA; (b) THE IRISH DIVISION IN NAPOLEON'S SERVICE | 509 | ||
| ILLUSTRATIONS, MAPS, AND PLANS | |||
| THE SIEGE OF TOULON, 1793 | 51 | ||
| MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE CAMPAIGNS IN NORTH ITALY | 81 | ||
| PLAN TO ILLUSTRATE THE VICTORY OF ARCOLA | 125 | ||
| THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF RIVOLI | 133 | ||
| FACSIMILE OF A LETTER OF NAPOLEON TO "LA CITOYENNE TALLIEN," 1797 | 156 | ||
| CENTRAL EUROPE, after the Peace of Campo Formio, 1797 | 171 | ||
| PLAN OF THE SIEGE OF ACRE, from a contemporary sketch | 205 | ||
| THE BATTLE OF MARENGO, to illustrate Kellermann's charge | 255 | ||
| FRENCH MAP OF THE SOUTH OF AUSTRALIA, 1807 | 378 | ||
| VOLUME II | |||
| XXII. ULM AND TRAFALGAR | 1 | ||
| XXIII. AUSTERLITZ | 29 | ||
| XXIV. PRUSSIA AND THE NEW CHARLEMAGNE | 51 | ||
| XXV. THE FALL OF PRUSSIA | 79 | ||
| XXVI. THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM: FRIEDLAND | 103 | ||
| XXVII. TILSIT | 125 | ||
| XXVIII. THE SPANISH RISING | 159 | ||
| XXIX. ERFURT | 174 | ||
| XXX. NAPOLEON AND AUSTRIA | 189 | ||
| XXXI. THE EMPIRE AT ITS HEIGHT | 208 | ||
| XXXII. THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN | 231 | ||
| XXXIII. THE FIRST SAXON CAMPAIGN | 267 | ||
| XXXIV. VITTORIA AND THE ARMISTICE | 300 | ||
| XXXV. DRESDEN AND LEIPZIG | 329 | ||
| XXXVI. FROM THE RHINE TO THE SEINE | 368 | ||
| XXXVII. THE FIRST ABDICATION | 399 | ||
| XXXVIII. ELBA AND PARIS | 435 | ||
| XXXIX. LIGNY AND QUATRE BRAS | 453 | ||
| XL. WATERLOO | 487 | ||
| XLI. FROM THE ELYSÉE TO ST. HELENA | 512 | ||
| XLII. CLOSING YEARS | 539 | ||
| APPENDIX I: LIST OF THE CHIEF APPOINTMENTS AND DIGNITIES BESTOWED BY NAPOLEON | 575 | ||
| APPENDIX II: THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO | 577 | ||
| INDEX | 579 | ||
| MAPS AND PLANS | |||
| BATTLE OF ULM | 15 | ||
| BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ | 39 | ||
| BATTLE OF JENA | 95 | ||
| BATTLE OF FRIEDLAND | 121 | ||
| BATTLE OF WAGRAM | 196 | ||
| CENTRAL EUROPE AFTER 1810 | 215 | ||
| CAMPAIGN IN RUSSIA | 247 | ||
| BATTLE OF VITTORIA | 310 | ||
| THE CAMPAIGN OF 1813 | 336 | ||
| BATTLE OF DRESDEN | 343 | ||
| BATTLE OF LEIPZIG | 357 | ||
| THE CAMPAIGN OF 1814 | to face | 383 | |
| PLAN OF THE WATERLOO CAMPAIGN | 458 | ||
| BATTLE OF LIGNY | 465 | ||
| BATTLE OF WATERLOO, about 11 o'clock a.m. | to face | 490 | |
| ST. HELENA | 540 | ||
| FOOTNOTES | |||
| INDEX |
Volume I
[pg.XV]