The Life of Napoleon I Vol I

LONDON: GKORGE BELL AND SONS PORTUGAL ST. LINCOLN’S INN, W.C. QElGtt'CON,UELL&.CQ. NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO, BOMBAY: A. H. WHEELER & CO. THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON I INCLUDING NHW MATKRIALS FROM RFCORDS BV JOHN HOLLAND ROSE. Lirr.D. UTI ur CNIItTft CMLtCt. CAMIIIDCC “Lrt tar Atk] («B(ctcot»a«r]r > iKi. it ib» MJrtnte titt ffr /*/ A't»{ ff Afwr. VOU I LONDON c.KouGr, iu;u. and sons 1907 Tost Svo Edition, Illustrated. First PiiblishctI, December, IQOI. Scctiiul Edition, revised, March, 1002. Tlutd Edition, revised, January’, 1903. Fourth Edition, revisesi, September, 1907. Crown Svo Edition First rublishod, September, 190^. Reprinted, October, 1907 DEDICATED TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD ACTON, K C.' O , l> C U, LUI) REGIUS TROrESSOR OF MODERN HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, IN ADMIRATION OF HIS TROFOUND HISTORICAL LEARNING, AND IN GRATITUDE FOR ADVICE AND HELF GENFROUSLV . GIVEN. PREFACE n ipology seems to be called for from anyone uho A gives to the ^vorId a new Life of Napoleon 1 My excuse must be that for many years I have sought to revise the traditional story of his career m the light of facts gleaned from the British Archives and of the many\aluablc materials that ha\c recently been published by continental historians To explain my manner of dealing with these sources would require an elaborate critical the space Introduction , but, as limits of my absolutely preclude any such attempt, I can only briefly refer to the most important topics To deal with the published sources first, 1 would name as of chief importance the works of MM Aulard, Chuquet, Houssayc, Sorel, and Vandal m France, of Herren Beer, DclbrUck, 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“ Soci6t6d Hisloire Conlcmporaine, the General Staff of the French Arm>, of MM Bouvier, Caudrillicr, Capitamc **J G,’ L^\y, Madclin, Sagnac, Sciout, Zivy, and others in France, and of Herren Baillcu, Demclitsch, Hansmg, Klmkowstrom.Luckwaldt, Ulmann, and others in Gcrman> Some of the recently published French Memoirs dealing with those times arc not dc\oid of value, though this class of literature is to be used w ith caution The nc\\ letters of Napoleon published bj M Leon hcccstTc and M Lconcc de Brotonne vni PREFACE 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 under- taking, 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 His- torical 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 interest- ing “ finds.” M. Ldvy, in the preface to his ‘‘ Napoleon ” ” intime ( 1 893), 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 I think that now for the most part been examined ; and 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 PREFACE 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 laugh- ing 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 super- human genius who was determined to effect its overthrow. I liave 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 constatis actas of his career, in order to have more space for <Ac a’ccfsiW events fAaC ibiVbwecfj 6uf even in these less eventful years I have striven to show how his Continental System \%*as setting at ^\*ork mighty economic forces that made for his overthrow, so that after the lUb&de of 1813 it came to be a struggle of Najwlcon and France contra mundum. ; X PREFACE 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 a fait etre 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 Public Record ; the 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 Uni- ; versity of Bonn, and author of “ Oesterreich und die Anfange des Befreiungs-Krieges,” for his very scholarly Mr. F. H. E. revision of the chapters on German affairs ; to 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 Horsburgh, and to Messrs. J, E. Morris, M.A., and E. L. S. B.A,, for detailed communications concerning Waterloo, T PREFACE x\ 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 cour- teously placed at my disposal the papers of her fatlier 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 is to them altogether not 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. [Noth.— he references lo Napoleon’s" Correspondence" in the notes are to the oiTicial French edition, published under the auspices of Napoleon HI. The "New Letters of Napoleon” are those edited by L<$on Lecestre, and translated into English by Lady Mary Loyd, except in a very few cases where M. Ldonce dc Brotonn^s stilt more recent edition is cited under his name. By " F. O.," France, No —, and "F. O.,” Prussia, No. arc meant —, the volumes of cur Foreign Office despatches relating lo France and Prussix For the sahe of brcMly I ha\e called N.apolcon’s Marshals and high officials by their names, not by ihcir lilies : but a list of these is given at the close of vol.

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