Napoléon Bonaparte

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Fahed Aslan Agha Al Barazi. Napoléon Bonaparte

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Dedication. This book is dedicated to my Father, Aslan Agha Al Barazi, who threatened Jamal Pacha and led the revolution. in Syria against the French

Napoleon’s family photos

Carlo Maria Bonaparte (© Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson) Maria Laetizia Bonaparte (© https://wellcomeimages.org)

Napoleon (© François Gérard – Jebulon, Taken in 2011)

Pauline Bonaparte (© Marie-Guillemine Benoist – http://www.histoire-image.org)

Caroline Bonaparte (© François Gérard – Portrait de la reine Caroline Bonaparte épouse de Joachim Murat, sur le site de Sotheby’s.com)

Elisa Bonaparte (© After Pierre-Paul Prud’hon – Life of Napoleon Bonaparte by William Milligan Sloane. New York: Century, vol. 1. Publication date: 1906)

Charles Lucien Bonaparte (© https://commons.wikimedia.org)

Jerome Bonaparte (© SARCY, A. de – McGill University Libraries) Joseph Bonaparte (© Jean-Baptiste Wicar – bridgemanartondemand.com)

Louis Bonaparte (© Charles Howard Hodges – http://www.napoleonsites.eu)

The women Bonapartes, The Mother and the Three Sisters (© By Internet Archive Book Images – https://www.flickr.com)

Queen Hortense (© Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson – Web Gallery of Art: Image Info about artwork)

Josephine (© By François Gérard – Web Gallery of Art: Image Info about artwork) Prince Eugene de Beauharnais (© Anonyme (XIXeme siècle) – repro-tableaux.com)

CHAPTER 6. Back in France. Six months had passed without news from Paris; finally Napoléon received a bundle of newspapers; the English have kept him informed of all the bad news about France that they could lay hands on. They all reported the latest about the debacles that France was experiencing. The Gazette Frankfurt, June 15, 1799 and other German and English papers of similar dates, all reporting the recent French setbacks in Europe. General Scherer’s Army of Italy was thrown back by the Austrians, Jourdan’s Army of the Rhine was defeated; England, Austria, Turkey, and Russia were now all allied against France. A combined Russo-Austrian army led by the Russian General Kutuzov had entered Switzerland and captured Zurich; the French were defeated at Cassano by an Austro-Russian army, Napoléon’s Cisalpine Republic was dismantled and Holland was taken by the English. What more? The French and Spanish fleets at Toulon and Cartagena were blockaded by the English navy, Corfu was captured by a Turco-Russian fleet and Malta was under a British naval blockade. All that Napoléon had accomplished was now crumbling, the Directory was at a loss as to what to do; Napoléon pushed the rags of paper aside and thundered, “What have those corrupt rogues done? France needs me, if I wait for orders from the Directory they may never get through the English naval blockade, and if I run the blockade successfully, accusations of desertion will be leveled at me by my enemies. But they can go to hell; I am where France should need me the most, Egypt was not more than a harassment to the English, a side show, my presence in France is most urgent; it is there where I am needed most. I shall leave Egypt in the safe hands of General Kléber; but all plans must be carried out in the utmost secrecy.” Napoléon summoned Admiral Ganteaume and inquired about his preliminary orders to outfit the frigates that he required for the journey back to France; Ganteaume assures him that the ships are ready, including the Muiron, which Napoléon had named after his fallen comrade at Toulon. Napoléon had taken extreme precautionary measures to keep his departure plan secret. Aside from Admiral Ganteaume, none of the rest, even his closest confidants, had even one inkling of his imminent departure. But Napoléon’s sudden change of his daily routine and order of the day had raised eyebrows and doubts as to what he was planning to do next, especially as Bourriene had been repeatedly told that he planned to return to France and more hearsay may have been exchanged amongst the officers and soldiers. To put everyone off the scent, Napoléon made a general announcement that he was going to tour Upper Egypt and inspect the administrative precincts, then proceed to the Mediterranean to inspect the fortifications and preparations against a possible English landing. At el-Elfi’s Palace, Napoléon’s retinue had gathered to join him on the return journey to France; Denon, the artist who sketched the pyramids and everything of interest, Monge, Napoléon’s close friend and father figure, Bethollet, the mathematician, Eugene de Beauharnis, General Duroc, Lannes, who distinguished himself in action and was frequently wounded, Murat, the flamboyant cavalry commander, the star of the second Abu Qir battle, Berthier, the most reliable chief-of-staff, Bessiéres, commander of the guards, and last Parseval Grandmaison, the poet, and Napoléon’s servant Roustem. On August 17 the carriages rolled out from the el-Elfi palace; Napoléon was joined in his own carriage by the members of the Institute, Monge, Berthollet, and the artist Denon. The command of the Army of Egypt was given to the competent General Kléber. Napoléon sent this order by a communique through General Desaix: “Comrade General, The unfolding events in Europe and the setbacks suffered by the fatherland are forcing me to march to the rescue; I shall risk capture by breaking through the siege of the enemy naval blockade and hope luck to be on my side. You are authorised to negotiate an honourable peace settlement with the Ottomans. The side show of the Egyptian campaign is worsted by the grave state of the Patria, as you well know. It is with great regret that I must hurry back to avail my services to rescue France. To you I entrust the Army of Egypt whose soldiers are my sons. Bonaparte.” On August 23rd, Napoléon ordered Admiral Ganteaume to weigh anchor. Luck was on his side; the English naval blockade failed to sight the three French frigates, including the Muiron, which was boarded by Napoléon and his retinue. Six weeks later on October 9, 1799, the small convoy arrived at the port of Saint Raphael. Napoléon was greeted by throngs of Frenchmen shouting, “Vive General Bonaparte, Vive Napoléon!” The mood was elating and the crowd loved him. Their hero, the saviour of the fatherland was back, he would certainly turn the precarious situation of France to victories. With this exuberant show of exaltation, Napoléon set out for Paris. Back in Egypt unrest was making life very difficult for the remaining French troops. Kléber took repressive measures to bring things under control, Ibrahim and Murad Bey, the Mameluke chieftains, were perfectly harassing the French garrisons. The Mufti and Sheikhs were calling for a revolt; calls for Jihad rang through the Arab world. A Syrian Arab nationalist, M. El Halabi, assassinated General Kléber and was himself executed. General Jacques Menou, who had embraced Islam and changed his name to Abdulla, took over command of the Army of Egypt. A feud between him and General Reynier led to the arrest of the latter, accusing him of insubordination. The army was in an unenviable state and the English were aware of that. Feelers were sent by Nelson to the French and a deal was struck between the two; this was less than a year after Napoléon’s departure. The French would evacuate Egypt honourably, the British on their part would provide the necessary vessels to repatriate the soldiers and their officers. Both sides were happy with this parodical arrangement and the Egyptian campaign, by this agreement, came to an end in 1801. The aftermath of the Egyptian campaign left the world with an indelible breakthrough into ancient Egyptian history: the discovery of the Rosetta Stone that explained the conundrum of the Egyptian hieroglyphics and opened a new study into the history of ancient Egypt in their own language; the scientific studies that were carried out on all sorts of subjects, medical, agriculture, plantation; local animals, herds and livestock, the first postal system connecting Cairo and Alexandria and other endemic details. On the other hand, the military enterprises were a fiasco, a disaster in the broad sense. The French fleet was destroyed by the English at Abu Qir, the siege of Acre decimated the ranks of the army through both field casualties as well as plague. The reinforcements that were envisaged never materialised, the Indian expedition was and remained a farfetched dream; the French Directory could ill afford another more disastrous naval adventure that would have been quite likely destroyed by the English before it ever arrived to Egypt. But the last act made the French forget all before it. Napoléon’s resounding victory in the second battle of Abu Qir closed the Egyptian chapter with the triumph Napoléon needed before he sailed back to France to present himself to the nation as the invincible general and the saviour of the realm. The road to Paris was a continuous show of admiration and cheers to the victorious general. Napoléon’s name was on every lip, in every house, people were looking out from their windows, standing and applauding outside their doors and when asked by an eager Frenchman what his propensities were, and what party did he associate himself with, he retorted, “I am not of any party. I am of the great party of French people.” The crowd responded with thunderous applause and shouts. “Vive Bonaparte, Vive le grand general!” Napoléon saluted the notables that were there to welcome him, complaining but cajoled by the attention he gave them. Their spokesman raised the question of the precarious internal state of affairs “The general knows now that the Directory wants to decree a forcible tax to rob the honourable people and the Chouans on the other hand still occupy part of the nation, from Vendée threatening Nantes? Who can assure that the émigrés are not going to return and demand the restitution of their lands sold as national goods? The Republic must be saved.” Napoléon viewed the group and retorted, “I am a nationalist. I will not tolerate any faction! Vive la nacion!” The crowd responded with acclamations and shouts. “Vive la Republic, Vive General Bonaparte,” all along the streets of Avignon and later on the route of the villages of the Valley of Rolando. On approaching Lyon, he saw in the windows of all the houses the tricolor banners; the carters in their stop stations, displaying glittering ribbons of the same colour, all to honour him. In Lyon the houses were illuminated; fireworks and rockets were in every street. The crowd was so dense that the coaches had to circle and slow down. Before the castle gate he saw some grenadiers and at the threshold his brothers Joseph and Luis. Everywhere the shouts, “Vive Bonaparte who comes to save the Patria.” Modestly he saluted the multitude; he felt that the human wave that dragged him was so powerful and profound, but he must guard himself against any excess and impatience. He knew what he wanted; power! He was thirty years of age and worth much more than all those men who defame amongst themselves. He has led dozens of thousands of men and has with them confronted death. He succeeded in conquering and overcoming all obstacles, but prudence was necessary. The Directory was another matter altogether. They were corrupt and guileful. Gohier, the president of the Directory, Barras and Sieyes were persons he would have to deal with; they were twisted characters, they had grown skilful at their furtiveness and machinations. But Josephine was his bane; as he came closer to the threshold, his two brothers came forward and the three embraced with choked emotions. He then took Joseph by the hand and told him Josephine must be divorced. Joseph responded, “Josephine, Josephine, she has put the Bonaparte name to shame; she did not remit the income of 40,000 franc which Napoléon had designated for her and she continued to cohabitate with Captain Charles at the Malmaison; she continued to see Barras and Gohier as well, this powerful man a new addition to her lovers. Furthermore, she is up to her throat with debts; she has favoured Charles in his trafficking for the supplies of the armies by her own influence with the authorities.” “Enough, enough, I will divorce this egregious woman and end this unfortunate chapter.” The brothers left Lyon in the early hours of the morning amongst a zealous throng shouting, “Vive Napoléon, the saviour of Patria!” Now in the coach with his brother Joseph, he asked about the situation in Paris. Joseph told his brother, “There is one man that counts above all the rest: Sieyes.” Napoléon remembered this man of fifty years, determined and prudent at the same time, an old priest. In 1789 he edited this little pamphlet that was relating the events with the question of “What is the third estate?” after, during the Reign of Terror, his own words saved him. Joseph explained to Napoléon that Sieyes had interviewed with Lucien, their brother, elected by Corsica for the Assembly of the Five Hundred; Sieyes wanted a reform to reinforce the executive power against the two assemblies of the Five Hundred and the Senators. He was searching for a general to impose his plan; Lucien had participated in all the negotiations. Sieyes had thought of General Joubert, but he was killed at the battle of Novi. General Moreau had shown caution and asked Sieyes in the presence of Lucien, “Why not think of what I commented on being informed of Napoléon’s return to France?” and then he told Sieyes, “There, you have your man, he will carry out the coup d’état better than I.” “And Bernadotte?” asked Napoléon “Hostile,” responded Joseph, “but he is the husband of Desirée Clary and that will probably make him more understanding.” They could always count on General Leclerc, husband of Pauline, and many of the troops quartered in Paris were old members of the Army of Italy. But the important man, insisted Joseph, was Sieyes. As for the Minister of Police, Fouche, he was intelligent as well as a good orator. He was a Republican terrorist and a regicidal man who massacred the royalist of Lyon by cannonading them. His royal adjutant was an old Jacobin close to Lucien; he controlled the judicial police “And Gohier?” asked Napoléon “A Lawyer of fifty years, timorous, but President of the Executive Directory,” replied Joseph with a sigh of regret, adding that “Gohier maintains the best relationship with Josephine, who often is his invited guest.” Always Josephine! Napoléon listened attentively; he would have to get the support of Barras. But how could he present himself as the saviour of Patria if he were to ally himself with the man that before the public embodies corruption? It was worth more to count on the support of the priest’s trio. When Paris was electrified by Napoléon’s victory over the Ottoman Turks, Josephine was philandering and alternating between the occasional visit to Barras, courtship with Gohier and cohabitation with Hippolyte Charles. Barras, a man of wits, foresaw the potential volcano erupting under their own feet. What if Napoléon returned safely? The victorious general could be ruthless and only God knew what he could and would do on his return. But for now, he was far away and Barras, to extricate himself from Josephine’s peccadilloes and focus all the profligate acts on her, suggested to her to marry Captain Charles after seeking divorce from her absent husband. But the woman’s self-conceit prevented her from pursuing this course. She was lavished upon with empty words by male admirers that satisfied her vanity, she lived in a whirlwind of voluptuous adventures and while she certainly enjoyed the foppish Charles and praised his well-shaped legs, whatever she had left of brains counselled her against such a misadventure; besides, Charles was much younger and quite in demand amongst the opposite sex. Napoléon ordered the porter to unload her trunks at his lodge. He gave strict orders that she was not to enter the mansion. His military glories overshadowed the cuckold she made of him, the French people adored him, he was irate and resolute; Josephine is finished. She is out of his life. The mockery she made of him will rebound on her through a public divorce and his own triumph will wash the blemish. Josephine hurriedly departed from Gohier’s abode; she raced to meet him, but missed him; she orders the carter to speed to Paris; she arrived at night, broke through the gate despite the porter’s protestations, but Napoléon had locked himself in. She pled, she shed tears, she begged him to open the door; he ignored her, not a word, simply dead silence on his part, which provoked her more. He was the hero of France, his name on every Frenchman’s lips; her empty vanity was eclipsed by the adoration that the French people lavished on her husband; for the first time she realised that she was truly humbled before him. Her children, Eugene and Hortense, came to her aid, they joined the chorus of pleading compassion, but Napoléon had had enough. He was preoccupied in his own thoughts; Josephine and the Directory one no better than the other. He felt betrayed; the corrupt directors and politicians wanted to exclude him from power; even Barras has reservations “Gohier, who the hell is Gohier?” snapped Napoléon. He felt betrayed by his own comrades-in-arms. He did not trust Bernadotte, he did not think much of his military skills and worried what stand he would take when the time was right for him to act. Josephine was an emotional issue that he would soon forget; on his mind was the ultimate achievement, power. He knew France needed him, he was their invisible hero, but what of this beguiling woman that has so captivated him? He relented, he softened, he opened the door and she threw herself in his arms. He stoically exacted from her all he wanted, not a word of expostulation or remonstrance. He was the conqueror, and just like a fallen citadel he need not employ excessive force; the garrison had surrendered and they knew he was the undisputed master. In fact, from this chapter onward in their conjugal relationship Josephine would prove to be loyal and dedicated to her husband, and the more his meteor rose, the more she held on to him. No more talks of Josephine amongst the family members. Letizia is disappointed that he did not divorce her, his brothers Joseph and Lucien are in equal disappointment. He nevertheless paid off Josephine’s accumulated debts of two million francs. Over the ages, it is practically impossible to find a parallel to Napoléon’s affair with Josephine; the mythical King Arthur had a similar brush with Guinevere, who presumably betrayed him with Lancelot. But no man of Napoléon’s stature, certainly, has allowed himself to be made a cuckold by his mistress, not to mention his wife. No such anecdotes of Hannibal or Alexander or Peter the Great or Frederick the Great. Henry the VIII had two of his wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard decapitated for rumours of infidelity; he was one of England’s strongest kings, a theologian, a poet, a jouster and a musician, but certainly nowhere to measure up to the genius of Napoléon. True, Henry VIII was 400 years before Napoléon, but nowhere in the annals of history do we find a great man in the stature of Napoléon who has accepted and lived with the infamy of his wife’s fornications. The man is not here to be judged on his conjugal failures and successes, but it most certainly cannot escape one’s mind how a great man, a genius in every sense of the word, allows himself to be dragged into the profligate quagmire of his own wife. On the other hand, maybe because he was such a great genius he could cope with and ultimately redress these infidelities. The pace of events is fast moving and Napoléon surveys the headways that his brothers have accomplished during his absence. The hot-headed ambitious firebrand Lucien, at age 24, is the leader of the opposition; he is a flamboyant speaker, an orator who defies all that oppose him. As of late he has developed a very close association with Sieyes, they are both conspiring to overthrow the Directory, they share the view of a corrupt Barras, pompous Gohier, a Directory which has so abused power that people yearn for the nostalgic days of the monarchy. Joseph’s misfortune had been Bernadotte’s marriage to Desirée Clary, the sister of Joseph’s wife. Napoléon was supposed to marry Desirée, and he and Joseph would have become brothers-in-law, but as it happened Bernadotte married her and a perennial rift further exacerbated the already tense relationship between Napoléon and Bernadotte. Even though Napoléon harboured antagonistic feelings towards Bernadotte, he needed his support or at least neutrality when the time came for the execution of his plans. The Power Game. Napoléon’s lucky star and astounding success in breaking through the British net of the naval blockade had reverberated all over England and France, the first with bells of forebodings, the second with great joy for the return of their hero. All the criticism of abandonment of the Army of Egypt was refuted by the fact that the Directory had sent him an order to return home, but the letter, amongst many others, was intercepted. The threat of foreign invasion during Napoléon’s absence was checked, but France was in a sorry state; unemployment rose to record highs, corruption amongst the Directors was rife; brigands roamed the roads and Paris was ready to welcome the Bourbons. The general mood of the nation was that of disgust and a change of the corrupt ruling clique was a prelude for dramatic changes to ensue. Barras was immersed in his gallivanting pleasures, his gambling habits compromised whatever was left of his integrity; Arnault’s royalties from the play Oscar were a staggering 1,300,000 francs, an anomaly to the wretched conditions of many unpaid government employees; subversive activities were going on in Vendée and Brittany and France eagerly looked for a saviour. The change was imminent. Real, Fouche’s assistant, asks to be received by Napoléon. Both observe and probe with prudence “Fouche is prepared to support a project that saves the Republic from the dual danger of Jacobins and Royalists. As a General Minister of Police, he can provide a substantial economical contribution. Collot has already offered 500,000 francs,” says Real “If these men risk their money, it is that they believe in my triumph,” retorts Napoléon. But not one day must be lost. Napoléon with Fouche’s declared intentions and his own circumspectness takes the necessary precautionary measures and summons Murat and Lannes. They are briefed but not fully informed of his intentions. He orders them to remain on alert and await his orders and then he requests an audience with Gohier, the President of the Directory, with whom he well knows that Josephine was spending her social soirees. Nevertheless, he is influential, and he must win him over. Napoléon starts, “The news that was arriving to us in Egypt was alarming to such a degree that I had no doubt whatsoever for one instant to leave my army and come and partake in facing the dangers.” “General,” replies Gohier, “Our dangers were great, but we have overcome them gloriously; you arrive in time to celebrate with us the numerous triumphs of your comrades-in-arms.” “That is what they try! To proclaim the victories of the Generals Moreau, Brune, and Massena that have managed to break the enemy’s siege, but they will not be able to silence this crowd that is glued to the Street de la Victorie opposite the Palace of Luxembourg when Napoléon comes to see the Directors.” The next day, dressed in Mufti with a Turkish scimitar fastened to his waist, he enters the Luxembourg amongst acclamations; he lowers his head in acknowledgement and maintains the same modest attitude before the Directors; he presents his arms and declares, “Citizen Directors, I swear that I will be only employed for the defence of the Republic and its government.” He observes them, convinced that they dare not condemn him or reproach him for having left the Army of Egypt with this multitude that follow acclaiming his name. They know perfectly well that they will have to find him a post in the Republic. The torrent of public acclamations terrify them; he is the hero of the French people and he and the Directors know it. He looks at Barras and realizes a twist in his attitude towards him; he can only hope to either win him over or at least neutralise him; Gohier cannot be counted on, this fifty year old man both timorous and pompous; Moulin, the third Director, is enigmatic and hostile; there remains Sieyes and Roger Ducos. The two are allied and he must act with them, but Sieyes’ countenance expresses sufficient distrust that Napoléon reserves for himself control of the game. As for Barras, Gohier and Moulin, the best he can do is delay their potential of hunting him. Lucien had explained what he had confided to his cronies “The sword of Bonaparte is very long.” They offer him the army of his choice; he says he will think about it. In fact, his motive was to become one of the five Directors as a first step, but he wished not to reveal his cards, he would play for time. The one salient thorn was Barras, a man who had lavished adulations on Napoléon and had called him the outstanding artillery officer who would become one day a great asset for the nation. Now this same man, not to Napoléon’s surprise because he had reservations about his earlier extolments, was being both evasive and ambiguous. Sensing that Barras is concocting something undesirable, Napoléon goes to see him at Luxemburg. Barras at the time was conducting clandestine negotiations with the Royalists for the return of Louis XVIII. His reward would be ten million francs; of course Napoléon was unaware of this change of heart on Barras’ part, and Barras knew that Napoléon had his own design, using the pretext of safeguarding the Republic as an initial vehicle to catapult himself to the ultimate power. The two in earlier meetings discussed the general state of affairs and Napoléon was quite forthright about a charge of Government. That was before he went on his Egyptian campaign. To avoid further inconveniences, Barras tells him that Gohier is the man to see, after all, he is the President of the Council of Directors, and the three meet. Gohier, who had befriended Josephine and enjoyed her company at their soiree trysts, had no intention of changing the law to allow anyone under forty years of age to become a member of the Directory. This gallivanting, womanising lawyer of fifty-three, timorous as he was, was not to be cowed or cajoled by Napoléon into changing the law to suit his ambitions. So Gohier, in the lawyers jargon, told Napoléon that the law cannot be changed “Are you telling me that you advocate a law which deprives the nation of capable men that can serve the realm?” retorts Napoléon “No General, what I am saying is that the law cannot be tampered with.” Gohier continues, “When you are of legal age, you may one day be able to serve in government.” A slight, gentle, provocative hint to the Directory. Napoléon was quite aware of the calumnies that the politicians weave, that they made government their private club; they lived on venality and corruption; Barras was known to sell offices to satisfy his lifestyle, he had become dissolute; Gohier was no better and the two held the reins of the Directory. Sieyes, at the age of fifty-three, who wrote the article “What is the third State?” and incited the revolution in its early days was a different character, and a close friend of Lucien. A new constitution must be adopted; for this Napoléon and Sieyes meet. Sieyes reminds him that in September 1797 and May 1798 the Directors used troops to cow the Council Chamber to rescind the elections of undesirables, though properly elected members, because their views contradicted those of the Directors. Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes, born 1748 into a middle-class family, was a child with promising qualities, but because of his poor health his parents enrolled him in the seminary to become a priest. The Abbe Sieyes played a prominent role in the revolution; he represented the third estate in Paris district and in 1789, at age forty-one, he incited the third estate to declare itself indissolvable at the famous meeting of the tennis court at Versailles; this was in response to Louis XVI’s threat of dissolving it. This able priest held various prominent positions and survived the Reign of Terror. He was a founding member of the Jacobin club and participated in the drafting of the rights of man. Amongst his numerous positions, President and council of Five Hundred and later a member of the Consulate which he helped create with the collaboration of Lucien Bonaparte, his young friend, and Napoléon himself. He cooperated with Barras in ousting Robespierre and won him over during a coup d’état that brought about the demise of the Directory and the ascendance of the Consulate. His qualities and in many ways his principles made him a close associate of Napoléon, who ultimately eased him out of the Consulate and landed him with accolades in acknowledgement of his indispensable contribution to the coup d’état of 18 Brumaire, 1799. He lived to see the return of Napoléon’s remains and died at the fulfilled age of eighty-eight in 1836. No one could suit Sieyes’ plans better than the hero of France whose name was on every Frenchman’s lips. They shared many puritanical and intellectual principles and Napoléon’s military moves complimented the political versatility of the veteran Sieyes. Napoléon and Sieyes meet on October 18, 1799 and go over details of their plan. Napoléon conjures thoughts of his impressions when he had met the Directors at the Luxembourg. He tells Sieyes, “I could see in their quandary over my attire; Mufti, scimitar, a silly round hat, hair cropped short, the ubiquitous green coat, a very humble man, but who is he deceiving? Is he ingratiating himself to the public more each day?” Then he asks Sieyes, “Did you observe the looks on their faces, Gohier, Barras and Moulin when they received me the next day on an obstreperous black stallion in brilliant general’s uniform, escorted by my general staff, how timorous they were and patronized they felt when I turned the tables and started questioning them over the loopholes of the constitution?” The two continue to shore up plans and agree on further speedy action; time is not on their side. Napoléon continues to maintain unsuspicious activities, but he is sought after by one and all. Bourbon agents visit him and cajole him to take their side, bribes are offered, but he politely declines and makes no commitment; he receives the Jacobins, his brother Lucien being an ardent member, but Napoléon is evasive and simply counsels on good government, the right of many and all kinds of subjects except those that may give his intentions away. He is a member of the Institute of Science and he takes special pride in being so; his friend Monge invites him to give a lecture on some of the highlights of the scientific achievements of the Egyptian campaign. Napoléon obliges and gives a detailed account of the importance of the Rosetta Stone and the wealth of knowledge that it provided in breaking the code of the hieroglyphic symbols and opening the eyes of the world to an entirely new lucid understanding of Egyptology. Events in Paris are unravelling, no one knows what will happen next; people are talking pros and cons. “Why doesn’t Napoléon take power and rid us from those wretched corrupt directors?” Others who fear Napoléon, mostly amongst the ruling clique, are calling for his arrest. Barras wavers; he is still fond of Napoléon, but more so of money. Talleyrand will see to it. Talleyrand’s perspicacity and foresightedness draws him to Napoléon. Gohier is a punctilious lawyer and will have to be removed by consensus, that is, after getting Barras, Ducos and Moulin to join with Sieyes and submit their resignations from the Directory. When Lucien tells Napoléon they will throw him out, Napoléon retorts, “What a silly idea. If the impression is given that the coup d’état is carried out by force, the chances for lasting the first year will be remote. We must act constitutionally and legally, but first the constitution must be changed, then further legal procedures can resume.” A state banquet is held in honour of Massena’s “Victory over the Austrians”. Napoléon is amongst the invited guests, but he is no mood to advance the cause of a comrade-in-arms that may divert attention from his own shining star. Talleyrand, with farsighted convictions, decides to throw his lot with Napoléon. He is close to Sieyes and so is Lucien; the three huddle up in a meeting with Napoléon at Malmaison. They go over details of the pending coup d’état. Napoléon will command the garrison of Paris, his loyal generals Murat and Lannes will execute his orders to the letter; his grenadiers will give their lives for him. What about the Jacobins? Lucien is already associated with them; they will used as a pretext, alleging their involvement in a plot to take over power. The councils will be cowed to move from Paris to Saint-Cloud. With the secure resignations of Sieyers, Barras, Ducos, Muiron and Gohier, the council will be asked to appoint a committee of three to draft a new constitution. To placate the expected opposition of the Five Hundred, Lucien, President of the Five Hundred, Talleyrand, Joseph and Roederer, the gruff Alsatian and leading political journalist would transfer the councils to Saint-Cloud on the pretext of security against the looming Jacobin plot. On October 28, Gohier, President of the Directory, suspicious of Napoléon’s intentions, attempted to coerce him into taking the command of the Army of the Rhine, which Napoléon declined on the subterfuge that he was indisposed and was not up to it. Barras, with an eye on the millions promised by the royalists for restoring the monarchy, failed in convincing Napoléon to join the plot. On November 6th, Napoléon attends a banquet at the Luxembourg; General Moreau is the guest of honour, Napoléon, wary of the possibility of poisoning, orders his trusted Mameluke servant to fetch him bread and eggs. He eats nothing else. Gohier and the remaining hosts eye Napoléon with mutual suspicion; he finishes his austere meal, stays for a while, then excuses himself for other prearranged engagements and leaves the banquet hall. On November 7th, Napoléon tells Roederer to prepare posters to display on the day of the coup stating that the Directors have abused the constitution to such a degree that it was rendered invalid. In the evening the six are dining together; Napoléon, Talleyrand, Roederer, Sieyes, Bernadotte and Jourdan. Sieyes, an intellectual and veteran of French politics, an intriguer and a man of principles exchanges words of wit with Bonaparte, each attempting to better the other, but Napoléon will be patient, exploit the attributes of this man whom he knows well and who could have gladly used the moment and Lucien’s certain preference for his brother. Jourdan is won over, but Bernadotte is sceptical; at least for now he promises not to act against Napoléon. Napoléon sends messages to his senior comrades inviting them for a social reunion. As they arrive, he takes them one by one to his study and explains the purpose of the reunion, they are in agreement, one and all. Finally, the military governor of Paris, General Lefebvre arrives. His comrades snap to attention, a clang of sabres and spurs rebounding from the stone cobbled path. The two men had met on various occasions and the respect was mutual. Lefebvre, a large Alsatian man, towering over Napoléon, asks him, “What the hell is this all about, why all those generals? What are you up to?” Napoléon is most tactful; he patiently explains to him that they must save the republic from those corrupt directors, that France is in danger, and as a gesture of confidence and camaraderie, “Here is my sword that I carried at the Battle of the Pyramids.” He hands his sword over to Lefebvre and wins him over. Napoléon and his co-plotters assigned the roles to be carried out by his loyal supporters. He tells his brother Joseph to cajole his brother-in-law, the vacillating Bernadotte, and contain him; his adjutants, aids-de-camp and immediate entourage of generals are summoned, Berthier, his Chief of Staff, Marmont, his classmate at the Ecole Militaire, Murat, the dashing cavalry officer, Lannes, the highly decorated and most wounded in action amongst the generals, and Bessiere, commander of the guards; orders are given to inform the advocates of the three branches of the service. Lucien has been catapulted to the Presidency of the Council of Five Hundred in honour of his brother’s victories; he will manipulate affairs in favour of their plan; the President of the Senate (a house of ancients) was also won over and is a privy to the conspiracy. Following the agreed procedure of the plot, Sieyes’ associate Cornet announces to the house of Senates that a conspiracy has been discovered; the Jacobins are the culprits, and unless the Senates move to Saint-Cloud, their safety and more so that of the Republic will be at risk. Then he asks them to appoint General Bonaparte Commander of the Army of the District of Paris. The house is left dumbfounded and terrified. They had witnessed bloodshed and heads rolling in such prior similar plots; Napoléon, despite the reservation of some and the apprehension of others about his true intentions, is confirmed Commander of the Paris District and the house decides to move to Saint-Cloud. November is foggy and damp with overcast weather, the general mood is tense. Talleyrand is meeting with Napoléon at his house, discussing the details of their plan. Suddenly, pandemonium in the street, horses at the gallop, hooves pounding the cobblestone lined street, then the sound of police shouting unclear orders; the two men are awed, is this a police sortie for their arrest? They peep through the door hole: it is a scuffle between police and drunkards roaming the streets. The mounted sentries bring a quick end to the scuffle and it ends as quickly as it started. Events are unfolding fast; Napoléon, Talleyrand, Sieyes and the general staff are anxiously waiting the messenger. Finally, the good news: the councils have approved the proposal, Napoléon commands the Army of the District of Paris. He dons his general’s uniform, mounts his recalcitrant stallion and waves to the throng of officers, his loyal comrades to mount and follow him. They flank him, then at a trot he leads them to the Tuileries through Paris, past the Place de La Concorde. On November 9th both councils have been summoned, excluding the undesirable members, by the time Napoléon and his entourage of loyal officers arrives; it is around seven o’clock in the evening. Lucien, the elected President for the month of the Council of the Five Hundred announces reaching a quorum. The bevy of mounted officers, dragoons, hundreds of them, summoned by Marmont throng the Tuileries garden; some alight, most remain mounted; time to take the oath as stipulated by the constitution. Napoléon dismounts, walks to the podium, takes the dais and speaks “You have legislated a law that saved the Republic. The end of the 18th century was an unequalled epoch. The republic that we created and all want is that of equality and liberty. We will together endeavour to achieve this end and I shall save the Republic and, in my name, and that of my comrades in arms, I swear it.” A resounding echo comes from the throng of soldiers and officers who crowded the open doors of the hall, “We swear it.” The Senate look at each other in disbelief; this general is patronising them, he is pulling the rug from under their feet, those pedagogues whom he detested and called a heap of dung are the same agnostics who disbelieve in him. Outside, Napoléon is received by his comrades, ready to carry out his orders. So far, so good, developments are to his liking, but where are Sieyes and Ducos? There is a funny twist to the good old Abbe’s role. He is learning how to ride and wants to show himself mounted, shaking his admirer’s hands as he bends right and left, a military gait not to be outperformed by his newly acquired comrades. The colonel commanding the guard, apparently anxious and impatient, rode hell-for-leather to the Tuileries at the head of his guard, leaving behind old Sieyes, who, humbly accompanied by Ducos, rides behind them in a carriage, arriving at the Tuileries practically unnoticed. The remaining three Directors, Barras, Gohier and General Moulin had reached a dead end. Napoléon, in view of past favours from Barras, had Talleyrand meet him and negotiate a deal for much less than what had been offered by the Bourbons. Barras receives Talleyrand, who pretends to be occupied in the toilet, and is now shaving while the wily abbes exchanges words with him. But when fox eyes the other, the game is over, and a settlement is reached. To save face, he asks to be guaranteed safe conduct, for that Napoléon sends his dragoons to escort Barras to his country house while he remains at the Tuileries. But earlier, when Barras’ secretary brought his demand to Bonaparte, a theatrical short work was made of it. Napoléon grasps the opportunity and in front of all and sundry roars at the poor secretary who shakes in his heels “Tell Barras he is not worthy of amnesty. I hand him a France of peace, I find it in war. Tens of thousands of my comrades are dead. Their road is that of annihilation and a direct invitation to the old regime. The France we want is that of equality, morality and liberty for all.” Moulin, now left alone with Gohier, the last two remaining members of the Directory who have not yet resigned, surveys the situation and realises that all is lost. The city is already controlled by units loyal to Bonaparte and his own force stands no chance; so, if you can’t beat them, join them. The reticent, punctilious Gohier held his own. He and his wife were invited the day before to join Napoléon and Josephine for an early breakfast. Sensing that something was afoot, he sent his wife alone; as his premonitions were being confirmed in the unfolding events, he summons his colleagues to no avail. They have already resigned. Gohier goes to meet Napoléon, displays a semblance of remaining vestiges of authority and pushes past the troops surrounding the man of the hour and comes face to face with him “Your duties are to carry out the orders of the Directory,” says Gohier “The Directory no longer exists,” retorts Napoléon, and he reminds Gohier, who is oblivious to last minute developments, that Sieyes, Ducos, Moulin and Barras have already resigned. He shows him their letters of resignation. But Gohier still hopes that opposing generals like Moreau and the wavering Bernadotte and even Augereau may join forces with him and abort Napoléon’s designs on the Directory; he goes to the Luxembourg Palace and holds out for further news. They never come. But Gohier was not entirely out of context, for Bernadotte had flagrantly asked the Jacobins to put him at the head of the opposing forces and Moreau, whose rising star and that of General Pichegru were eclipsed by Napoléon’s victories and the meteoric rise of his star, bided his time to pounce on Napoléon on the first propitious chance. Lucien comes to see his brother; the young firebrand thinks that his brother is moving too slow. “The job should have been finished in one day, the Five Hundred are already clamouring and tomorrow they will confront you with open hostility. Soldiers, send in the soldiers to clear the chambers and arrest them.” But Napoléon will have none of it. He must maintain the legal semblance of all his actions, even if he has to take the risk against the Five Hundred and the opposing generals. He has the preponderate power but tells his brother he doesn’t want people to think he was afraid of the generals; besides, between an action that results in bloodshed or one openly seen with chambers and by that the approval of the people through their representatives, he will choose the latter. The next morning Napoléon arrives to Saint-Cloud in his carriage, a distance of approximately 13 kilometres. Pedestrians, men on horseback, carriages and men in droves file through the road to Saint-Cloud, a towering palatial edifice with gilded halls. Veterans of the Italian Campaign crowded the driveway; these are the loyal soldiers that Napoléon trust, his grenadiers bedecked with bearskins exchange words as Napoléon approaches and inquires about the ongoing work; he is told that much has yet to be finished. The workers are shuffling around benches, bringing in chairs, setting up rostrums and daises; the elders (senators) will meet in the Salle de Apollon on the upper floor, the Five Hundred on the lower floor at the Orangerie. This protracted delay is not in Napoléon’s favour; both chambers are buzzing in disquiet, they sense a conspiracy. The Five Hundred are having second thoughts about this whole charade, those lawyers feel deceived; in the mist of the clamour they exchange their angry feelings, that the dismal ambience of the Orangerie hall that contains them sharply contradicts that of the supple richly decorated and gilded walls of the Salle de Apollon did not help improve their apprehensive mood. While the hubbub was going on and workers were putting the touches on the seating arrangements, Napoléon, Sieyes and Ducos huddled in a backroom adjacent to the Orangerie on the lower floor, impatiently waiting for the procedures to start. It is a sparsely furnished room, two armchairs where the two future consuls Sieyes and Roger Ducos are seated. It is humid, cold and the chimney fire is on the verge of extinguishing. Napoléon paces back and forth impatiently and occasionally pokes the fire. Finally, at about 2 p.m. the Salle de Apollon was ready to receive the senators. The general atmosphere is reminiscent of the Roman Senate, and just like the Romans, consuls, proconsuls, triumvirates. Sultan Al-Kebir of Egypt that he was is now seeking the ultimate – The First Consul, but one step at a time. He will have to deal with the Elders (senators) and the Five-Hundred and like Caesar, he has his supporters and enemies in both chambers. The elders enter the Salle de Apollon, soldiers and grenadiers crowding the doorways on the façade of protecting the deputies. The President of the Chambers announces commencement of the proceedings, the resignation of the four directors is announced, after debating the issue, it was agreed that the chamber of Five-Hundred would nominate to the Senate a list of names from which they will choose the replacements; but not a word about the change of constitution. The whole purpose of bringing the downfall of the directors was to change the constitution to suit the aspirations of Bonaparte and Sieyes, to reduce the number of directors to three from the previous five and ultimately give it the Roman aura by re-labelling the Directory the. Consulate “What! The Five-Hundred draw up a list of nominees for the Directory! Those scoundrels will not be allowed to make short work of all we have accomplished so far.” He turns to general Berthier and his secretary Bourriene and orders them to follow him. His sword buckled, he pushes past Augereau and Jourdan and ignores their pleas for compromise “Are you here to have an afternoon tea?” Clamour of the deputies of Five-Hundred, shouting no dictatorship, down with the tyrant. Followed by Berthier and Bourriene he silently scales the stairs to the Salle de Apollon, where the senators (elders) are in suspended session. Napoléon barges in and requests to speak. The president, a friend of Sieyes invites him curtly to mount the rostrum. He takes the dais and starts, “Representatives of the people, you are not under ordinary circumstances, but sitting on a volcano.” The senators are uncomfortable and do not like what they hear. They murmur and look at each other; he senses the restive mood and continues, “Calumnies, machinations are everywhere. I come to save you and the Patria. I proved myself and crushed the rebels in earlier days, I carried out your orders and defeated our enemies, I saved the nation from the intriguers. I am a soldier, and no one defended or can defend the realm as I have; you must trust me, we must together work to save our most cherished achievements, those of liberty and equality.” The deputies, unimpressed, many of them lawyers and veteran politicians, orators who dazzled audiences with their rhetoric, could not help but smile at this upstart who lacks the etiquette of the pedantic politician statesman and conducts himself in the guise of a general haranguing his troops “What about the constitution?” shouts a deputy “The constitution has been abused. It is riddled with loopholes allowing intrigues to exploit it. It must be changed,” retorts Napoléon. “The nation is in danger, conspirators prance at will. They must be stopped.” A voice rings from the audience, challenging him to name the conspirators. Napoléon remembering the haranguing he precipitated on the terrified secretary of Barras, delivers his echoing words to the senators “Barras approached me to overthrow the Republic and restore the monarchy.” Unimpressed, raised eyebrows, the senators chuckled. Barrass? The regicide, a monarchist? Who can believe that? Feeling that his audience was unresponsive and unimpressed, he fumbles for words, then looks at the open doors of the hallway and belts out “Soldiers, I can see you standing proud, grenadiers your fearsome courage and towering bearskin statue, together we comrades in arms have defeated preponderating enemy forces and established republics.” Murmurs, chuckles, what in the hell is this man saying? The senators are getting angry, but Napoléon continues directing his words to the troops outside the hall “Soldiers! Together we fought the enemy of the nation and victory was on our side, the God of war marches with us, should I ever deviate from this course, you strike my breast with your bayonets; but should a quisling in foreign pay dare to call your commander an outlaw, strike him down ruthlessly!” His speech became more incoherent and ludicrous. From the sublime oratory of those bespectacled lawyers listening to him, to the puerile nonsense he was uttering; it is a parody of a speech and the scene is turning comical. Bourienne approaches him and whispers, “General for God sake you don’t know what you are saying, please, follow me.” Napoléon acquiescing, and the three leave the hall accompanied by General Berthier and his entourage of officers. Promptly, a deputy advocating Napoléon’s cause rises and recommends to the senators the formation of a committee to confront the looming danger “I was afraid that instead of the Luxembourg Palace, we were going to wind up at the Palace de Revolution, the notorious place of the regicide of Louis XVI,” Bourrienne commented later. This is a man whose ethos has been galvanized through battles and victories, he is capable of employing a ruse to achieve this end, a lie to distance his opponent; he is the artillery commander whose orders and the thundering inferno of his batteries desolate the enemy lines. Here he confronts those whom we calls corrupt hypocrites, he loses his art of cajoling; in his inner recesses he despised this throng of 250 deputies; his ultimate goal is the reins of power and despite the semblance of legality in his actions, he only does what he is best at doing – commands but does not ask. He must achieve power strictly by legal means; those pedantic deputies that form the legislative body of the chambers are the ones to grant it. A new Directory or Consulate must be formed, reduced in numbers from five to three. He will head this triumvirate; he will be the First Consul; he will rid the country of corrupt politics and blemished politicians. He will establish law and order. The country has been in total disarray for a number of years; the public are getting fed up with their representatives and he must be granted his commission to initiate the changes that he has harboured thoughts of for quite some time. The principles of the revolution will be enacted – liberty and equality for all; no distinction between one or the other based on creed, class or humble origin. Men will excel based on their personal merits and all will have equal opportunities. But to do that he must receive the approval from the same deputies that occupy the halls of Saint-Cloud, who he genuinely detests and distrusts. Undeterred with the discouraging proceedings at the Salle de Apollo, he decides to confront the more belligerent assembly of the Five-Hundred on the lower floor at the Orangerie. Few words of encouragement are exchanged with his supporters in the hallway, a message is sent to Josephine telling her all is going well, a premature intuition of victory that he conjures up from his battlefield experience. The Five Hundred, a chequered group of disaffected Jacobins and malcontent royalists, factions of varying agendas, independents and lawyers all had spent the afternoon swearing an oath of allegiance to the constitution. Napoléon would descend to meet the turmoil of this unruly multitude. Escorted by his grenadiers, riding whip in one hand and hat in the other, he descends to the lower floor and enters the glooming Orangerie hall where the Five Hundred are meeting; instantly shouts ring through the hall: “Traitor, outlaw, down with the usurper.” Jacobins; he always hated their anarchy and firebrand extreme politics. A Jacobin, grabbing him by the arm and shaking him, shouts, “Out! You are desecrating the law!” Others in a boisterous scene of uproar are pushing and shoving, trying to lay hands on him. His grenadiers push back the attackers but in the scuffle one of the Jacobins scratches his face and droplets of blood seep down his cheeks. The stalwart grenadiers, four of them, battered their way through the opposing Jacobins; with Napoléon safety protected by their bodies, whisked him out of the hall and amongst his supporters who rallied outside, waiting for him. Dishevelled and for a fleeting moment disoriented, he quickly regains his composure and strides hastily to the backroom where Sieyes was eagerly waiting to be informed of events. The man who was accustomed to shattering his enemy by steel and fire was now overwhelmed by those whom he desperately tried to engage in a civil and legal procedure. He had refused to use force and insisted on framing the coup d’état within the law. A twist of attitude, unhoped for but expected, has occurred. His adversaries, in the pandemonium that ensued, assaulted him and could have seriously injured or even killed him. He will change the rules of engagement; he will retaliate, using force against those who violated the legal and civilised procedures that he had expected. He, who two years before, when the directors ordered the troops to surround the chambers, had written to Talleyrand, telling him, “It is a calamity when in the eighteenth century, France, a nation of thirty million citizens, has to resort to arms to save the Directory,”; but events are quickly moving against him and he must act or face the worst. In the Orangerie, Lucien called the Five Hundred to order. The deputies clamour, “Outlaw him!” In vain, Lucien tries to calm the deputies, but they continue clamouring for a voice to outlaw him. In theatrical anger, Lucien throws off his toga and offers his resignation. He is a Jacobin and his oratory and firebrand character is endeared and admired by his Jacobins peers; they plead with him to reconsider. As he folds his portfolio and beams at the deputies, he retorts, “I will think about it,” and quickly storms out to the courtyard where his brother was pacing back and forth furiously, surrounded by his troops “They are voting to outlaw you,” said Lucien. “You must act at once.” Napoléon knew the meaning of outlawry, the Reign of Terror, and the consequences, the guillotine “They go to hell!” roared Napoléon, then in a swift move, mounted his stallion, hoisted his arm and signals to the drummers. Drums roll, Lucien comes forward, the troops are anxious; he harangues them “Soldiers, I address you in my capacity as President of Five-Hundred. The majority of deputies are being terrorized by a few armed Jacobins. These wretched things made an attempt on the life of your general who led you to victories and glorified France. These corrupt cowards are in the pay of our enemy. It is you, stalwart soldiers, with your bayonets who will save the terrified majority from the few villain armed rogues. Through skulduggery, these knaves have dared to outlaw your general who is legally appointed by the councils. Throw the rascals out and recognise only those deputies who join me amongst you in your ranks in fulfilling the welfare of the nation.” From the Orangerie windows, some deputies were shouting abuse at Napoléon. “Outlaw, Tyrant!” The soldiers, bewildered, stood, undecided. Then Napoléon vociferously addressed the troops, “Soldiers, together we marched into battle, always at the head of the vanguard, leading your columns to victory, over and over. I have risked my life, time and time again, for the honour of France. I was always with you in the thick of battle, inspiring you and spurring you on. Kill anyone who resists you!” Lucien, concerned about his brother fumbling again, approaches Napoléon and says to him, “For God’s sake, enough is enough.” The troops shout, “Vive le Bonaparte,” but remain hesitant. In a lightning move, Lucien unsheathes his sword and points it to his brother’s chest, shouting, “I shall transfix my own brother should he ever endanger the freedom of the French.” With this dramatic act, conjured up theatrically, Lucien wins the day for his brother and the troops, this time, move forward en masse, shouting “Vive Bonaparte,” they shake their muskets in loyal support. General Leclerc and Murat grasp the opportunity; they order the troops to advance to the Orangerie where the Five Hundred had gathered “Clear the hall from this scum!” shouts Murat. He orders a bevy of soldiers to follow him; bayonets thrusting forward. The soldiers, in a comical scene, clear the trepid deputies from the hall amongst a mixture of motley uniforms and hats intermingled in the pandemonium that ensued. Shouts could be heard from some of the more intrepid deputies, “We die for freedom!” Instead they started jumping from the Orangerie’s large windows, disappearing under the mist of the late evening in the adjoining surroundings. After all, no one really wanted to kill them, and the soldiers could not hold back their tittering and muffled laughter. Lucien’s role in the coup was invaluable; he had saved the day for his brother twice, once when he bungled through his speech at the Salle de Apollo in front of the senators and then at the Orangerie hall on the lower floor, in front of the rowdy Five-Hundred. Now he picks up the cudgel and rushes to the senators, who are in a prolonged session on the upper floor. In a dramatic display of emotion, he explains to the deputies how his brother’s life was threatened by the rowdy Jacobins. The senators, sensing through the unfolding events that the tide has shifted in Napoléon’s favour, allow themselves to be convinced by Lucien “in the interest of France” to affix their approval on the three new directors. With the signed approval of the senators secured, there remained the stamp of approval of the willing members of the Five Hundred. Lucien had, by nine o’clock in the evening, been able to successfully bring back ninety deputies to perform the formalities of swearing the Oath of Appointment. All of them were either supporters of Sieyes-Napoléon or were coerced to attend. Lucien wanted a display of pomp to accompany the ceremony, giving it an added shade of legality, and had therefore by late night successfully gathered a heterogeneous group of men of society, debutantes, beautiful women and of course all Napoléon’s stalwart generals; Berthier, Leclerc, Lance, Bessiere, Jourdan, Murat and others. Noticeably absent was General Bernadotte. All in all, about two hundred had attended the ceremony and shortly after midnight the fidgety three Consuls, Napoléon, Sieyes, and Ducos, took the Oath of Loyalty in front of the Rump deputies of the Five-Hundred. Thus, the term of the Directory came to an end and the Consulate of Three (Triumvirate) replaced it. Although Napoléon was sceptical of the elders’ reaction to his plot, he nevertheless attempted to win them over without using force. But the diehard Jacobins were not to be swayed by the purported conspiracy on their lives. These political veterans of the French Revolution had their own agenda and viewed with contempt this Corsican upstart as a usurper of power. Furthermore, Napoléon’s bungling oratory, first to the elders and right after to the Five Hundred made him the subject of ridicule. However, using force was not ruled out, despite Sieyes’ good connections with both chambers and the fact that his brother Lucien was a favourite amongst the Jacobins. Finally, the loyal troops saw in Napoléon and his brother Lucien the embodiment of the military and the legislative branch, and when the order was given to march they obeyed. With the words “We shall meet at the Luxembourg,” Napoléon bid farewell to Sieyes and Ducos, entered his carriage driven by six black horses and ordered the carter “to Paris,” Bourrienne sitting next to him. Napoléon remained quiet, not a word, then turned to Bourrienne and said, “I uttered a lot of nonsense, didn’t I?” “Yes General, you certainly did.” The house is surrounded by his loyal grenadiers. They had escorted his carriage from Saint-Cloud to Paris. He alights, followed by Bourrienne. Josephine is there to welcome him; he is the man of the hour and he guards this occasion in dignified silence, except for a word or an irrelevant remark every now and then. He turns to Josephine and says, “I cajoled Bernadotte more than he deserves. He is not to be trusted. His marriage to Desirée Clary makes him brother-in-law to Joseph and more so to be watched. Tomorrow I will act.” The next morning, wearing Mufti; Napoléon enters the Luxembourg followed by his entourage. His main concern as a first step was to redraft the Constitution. Sieyes, the veteran savant, under Napoléon’s personal participation, embarked on rewriting the Constitution. He suggested a conservative senior body, called the Senate. Their duty would be to appoint members of both the legislative and executive branches. They would safeguard the new constitution by ensuring that both the legislative and the executive branches were in conformity with its laws. The electorates’ duty would be to nominate a list of candidates. This procedure would ensure, under the watchful eyes of the senate, that the constitution would be strictly adhered to and not left to the personal interpretation of the legislative or the executive. Certainly, Napoléon had played a major role in drafting the new constitution to suit his own aspirations, which Sieyes had already proposed earlier (reducing and changing the name of the Directory to the Consulate) This would be the fourth constitution since 1789, but Napoléon inserted two additional salient clauses which did not exist in previous constitutions

CHAPTER 8. The Winds of War. During the campaign in Egypt, the Austrians had practically regained all the territories that Napoléon had conquered during his first Italian campaign. Once he dealt with the Directory, abolishing it and replacing it with the Consulate, he turned his attention to deal with the Austrians with the intent of re-conquering all the lost territories. But first he writes to the Austrian Emperor, alluding to Austria’s initiation of hostilities during his eighteen-month absence. He addresses the Austrian Emperor with the following words, “Majesty, on my return after a year and a half absence, I find that hostilities have broken out between your majesty and France. The French people entrust me to redress the affairs of state.” Thus Napoléon puts the blame on Austria; his words ring of dignified self-confidence, a trait that Napoléon displays throughout his career. But the lofty Hapsburg emperor has no intention to respond. In fact, during his days in Egypt, he often told Bourrienne that he shall launch another campaign against the Austrians; he shall win decisive victories and will once more become the cynosure not only of the French but of the whole of Europe. And he has learned from their first Italian campaign and the close brush with the Croats that his personal safety was quintessential to the success of the campaign; he therefore organizes his personal Consular Guard that would become, during the Empire, the Imperial Guard. In 1796 this formation was called the Guides, and its function was to protect General Bonaparte, Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Italy. The Consular Guard cavalry was provided with the finest horses selected from the best pedigreed stock that France had. Their history goes back to the late seventh century when the Arab armies engaged the French at the battle of Tours; (or Poitiers, 730 to 732 AD) commanded by Abdelrahman Al Ghafiqi, who was killed in action, resulting in the retreat of the Arab army back to Spain and the seizure of Army Arab horses of the finest lineage. These Arab stallions were interbred with French mares, resulting in the first so called thoroughbreds. In Spain, the Arab-Spanish horse was initiated around 711 A.D. during the early stages of the Arab conquest. The Spaniards called it “La Raza Caballar Arabe-spanol” or the Andalucian horse. Carlos, the fifth King of Spain (a Hapsburg himself) transported a good number of these horses to Vienna; he was, at the time, King of Spain and Emperor of Austria as well. We can therefore infer that the Austrians also had their share of thoroughbreds; in fact, these horses can be seen at the “Spanish Riding School of Vienna”. They call them Lipizzanes. In England, it was the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, Queen Mary (sobriquet – Bloody Mary), who married her cousin Phillip II (the marriage was never consummated), who brought the Arab-Spanish horse, the Andalusian, around to England. However, not until the 19th century were the first Arab stallions officially brought from Syria, Iraq and North Africa and properly documented in the European equine records, producing the English-European Thoroughbred horse. With these finest, pedigreed horses, Napoléon provided his Consular Guard. No less provided for were the Austrian and English cavalry. The cavalry, however, distinguished itself according to its training and commanders who led the charge. The most renowned amongst the French was the swashbuckler, Murat, followed by Colbert, Grouchy, LaSalle and Nansouty. Murat distinguished himself in the decisive cavalry charges of Acre Eylau, Austerlitz, Borodino and others. No less outstanding was Grouchy at Friedland. Napoléon told Bessieres, Commander of his Imperial Guard, “Cavalry is decisive before, during, and after battle.” In the 1790s, the Austrian cavalry was regarded as the finest in Europe, but at Austerlitz and Wagram, despite such able commanders as the celebrated Prince Liechtenstein and others, were defeated by the French. The bold Prussian cavalry, despite their reputation, were no match to the French dragoons and cuirassiers. The first, armed with pistols, muskets and sabres, the latter, the heavy cavalry, used large horses, mounted by tall well-built horsemen with helmets, armed with long straight swords and pistols and protected by the double breast and back plates. The heavy cavalry cuirassiers’ main function was to smash through enemy lines and break their ranks. The lancers were introduced in 1811 to Napoléon’s army. They were most effective in breaking up squares formed by infantry, as was the case at Waterloo. The British cavalry stood as one of the best in Europe, but as the lberian battles showed, their weakness was in their inability to rally after a charge; this was repeated at Waterloo. Their formations consisted of life guards (heavy), dragoons and hussar (light cavalry) The Russian cavalry was a reputable as the French. They consisted of the Tzar’s Imperial Guard, dragoons, cuirassiers (heavy), and hussar (light). In addition, the Cossacks’ cavalry formed the irregulars of the auxiliaries, whose function was to harass reconnoitre and patrols. However, the French employment of mass cavalry formations and the lack of it by the Russians always gave the upper edge to the French. The Murats of the Russians were the outstanding Hetman and Platov. Napoléon was to confront this array of marshal forces and its panoply of arms. His first Italian campaign had taught him what he needed to know about the terrain, the Austrians and their allies, the local people, the adversities, the tribulations and finally the gratifying glory of victory. In the spring of 1800, Napoléon began his preparations for the second Italian campaign. For the purpose money was needed, a lot of it, but the first Consul was in no mood to burden the recently rejuvenated French treasury. He would therefore extract substantial contributions from the rich merchant class. Millions were collected from the most affluent merchants of France. He tells Cambacérès, “The army is fighting for France, the soldiers are putting their lives at risk for the sake of honour; it is the duty of rich merchants to support the war efforts, they must share if not in their lives at least in their purses and not be just bystanders.” In early May, he summons his generals; Berthier, Murat, Desaix, Massena, who was in Italy at the time, Suchet, and yes, General Moreau. Napoléon held Moreau in deserved regard; he would overlook the elements of jealousy that the forty-two-year-old Moreau harboured for the young Corsican outsider. Napoléon’s forbearance and magnanimous character overrode any grudges in favour of the meritorious achievement that the person in question may contribute to enhance Napoléon’s objective, for Napoléon firmly believed in distinction; “Those who perform outstanding tasks, be it military or civil, are worthy of being distinguished.” On May 5th, 1800, the First Consul divides his army into two main prongs; General Moreau commands the Army of the Rhine, approximately 100,000 men, and Napoléon will lead his army of close to 60,000 men over the Great St. Bernard Pass, accompanied by his indispensable and trusted General Berthier. General Massena was already in Italy, operating around Genoa, at the lead of an army of 18,000 men, supported by General Suchet’s army of 30,000 men, keeping in check the numerically superior forces of the Austrian General Melas of approximately 100,000 men. While General Moreau’s army was crossing the Rhine to meet the Austrian General Kray, with equal or slightly numerically superior force; Napoléon was embarking on his epic journey of crossing the Alps to descend on the plains of Italy. Not since Hannibal, around 216 B.C., two thousand years ago, had crossed the Alps with his elephants had anyone attempted this great feat. Now, Napoléon and his army, in the spring of 1800, crossed with dragged by pack mules as their mulateers spurred them on. The Austrians were expecting a tattered French army, for at Dijon, Napoléon had intentionally led the Austrian spies to believe that the levied recruits were of ragtag quality, prompting the Austrian press to reflect this view, and swallow the bait. The picture of the unfolding hostilities was as follows; General Moreau crossing the Rhine to engage the Austrian General Kray’s army of some 100,000 men; General Massena and General Suchet were already in Italy, holding out at Genoa and trying up a sizeable Austrian army of some 90,000 men under General Melas. This crucial time was required to allow Napoléon’s army to move his troops, artillery, cavalry, field hospital wagons, baggage train and munitions through the unwelcoming terrain and heavy snow. By the end of May, Napoléon, completely unknown to the Austrians, was descending through Chatillon and moving rapidly to reach Chivassa. Still Massena held at Genoa, but his position was becoming untenable. Finally, and almost simultaneously, as Napoléon was speeding to Milan in forced marches, Massena was surrendering Genoa on June 4th and allowed to withdraw intact with his small army of some 17,000 men. On June 2nd, Napoléon, supported by the cavalry of Murat, entered Milan victoriously, a repetition of the same episode four years earlier. He only found out two days later that Massena had surrendered Genoa on June 4th. Dispatches reached Napoléon that the Austrian General Ott was defeated by General Lannes and General Victor at Montebello on June 9th. But with Massena’s withdrawal from Genoa on June 4th, the Austrian General Mela’s main army of some 32,000 troops was now free to be launched at the numerically inferior army of French reserves under General Berthier. From his headquarters at Torre de Gartoli, Napoléon ordered Murat and Lannes to join Berthier’s reserves on the plain of Marengo. General Desaix, commanding some 6,000 troops, was ordered to take up position near the city of Alessandria, near the village of Marengo, to provide reinforcements to Berthier’s reduced force of 15,000 men and fewer than 50 pieces of artillery. On June 13th, Napoléon ordered Desaix to move his division to Novi to forestall Mela’s attempt to wheel back on Genoa, and Lapoype to move north to guard the river Po crossing, by that effectively reducing the combined reserve force to less than 25,000 men. At eight o’clock in the morning on Sunday the 14th of June, 1800, General Melas unleashed his 32,000 men army, supported by close to 100 pieces of field artillery, on the positions of the French at Marengo. Taken by complete surprise by his adversary’s bold move, Napoléon finally realized that, in fact, this was the main Austrian thrust, when General Victor’s division began to give way. Lannes, at the head of his division, moved to buttress Victor’s flagging position, while Murat’s cavalry charge was checked by an Austrian counter charge. The situation was becoming more precarious by the minute; finally realizing his error, Napoléon countermanded his orders to General Desaix and the Consular Guard and ordered them to join battle at Marengo. The battle hung in the balance; the Consular Guard, supported by General Monier’s division, had moved against General Ott’s force near Castel Ceriold to ward off his outflanking move, which if successful, would have halted and worse, would have ended Napoléon’s second Italian campaign. The fighting raged on; the French continued to give ground and by three in the afternoon, the battle was on the verge of being lost, so Melas, assured of victory, handed over the command to general Sachs and retired to nearby Alessandria for a short respite. By a twist of luck, General Desaix, whose division was bogged down by mud caused by floods, on hearing the belching guns at Marengo, ordered his troops to turn back and speed up to join battle. His move could not have come any sooner, by contrast to Marshal Grouchy at a forward date in 1815 in the battle of Waterloo, who continued his march in pursuit of Field Marshal Blucher from Prussia despite the pleas of his adjutant to turn around and join the battle. Elated at the appearance of Desaix, he ordered him to counter attack immediately; almost simultaneously, young Kellerman, not to be confused with the senior Kellerman during the first Italian campaign, arrived at the head of his cuirassiers while Marmount was hurriedly positioning his guns, ready to unleash them on the enemy. With the central sector buttressed by the deployment behind it of Boudet’s men and Victor’s left wing now firmly backed up by one of Boudet’s three brigades, Desaix, at the head of his division, ordered his troops to advance. But luck was not on the side of the brave general, who had arrived from Egypt two days before. He was instantly killed by gunshot as he headed the attack. Boudet’s men hesitated, then rallied as they were spurred on; Sach’s advancing column of 6,000 men falling on the French to deliver the coup de grace was instantly halted by Marmont’s artillery as they pounded Sach’s exposed left flank at close range, creating mayhem amongst the Austrians. Kellerman, wielding his sword, signalled the attack to his cuirassiers and launched them on the reeling Austrian column; delivering the knockout blow that sent them fleeing at will. Boudet’s infantry pursued the fleeing Austrians, whose undignified flight caused the entire Austrian line to collapse and run for their lives to nearby Alessandria to join their commander-in-chief, General Melas. Melas, who had considered the battle as good as won at three o’clock, found that by five o’çlock they had lost it. Casualties were heavy on both sides, but the Austrians lost nearly 15,000 men to the French’s loss of 8,000 men. Stunned at the turn of events, General Melas sued for an armistice and the halting of hostilities, admitting full defeat. This led to the Convention of Alessandria and Austria’s ceding to France the north of Italy. The brave General Desaix had won the day; he snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Brigadier Kellerman played a vital role by hurling his squadrons of cuirassiers on the Austrians. Napoléon remained on the battlefield, distraught and sad for the loss of his brave comrades-in-arms who had been summoned from Egypt and had just arrived two days before, and just as distraught at having practically lost the battle between three and five, had it not been for Desaix’s sudden and lucky appearance to save the day. Yet the First Consul consoled himself; had he not four months earlier planned the entire campaign and dictated to Bourriene, “I shall cross the Alps at the Great St. Bernard and fall upon Melas; meet him here on the plains of Marengo,” (and he marked the spot on the map with a pin) “and cut his lines of communications with Austria.” Marengo was the first major campaign in his consular reign; Moreau’s Army of the Rhine was pressing up the Danube, and while parleying was going on with the Austrians, a victorious Napoléon decided to return to Paris on June 17th. On his arrival, he orders his brother Lucien to commission renowned artists to dramatize in paintings the battles he fought in Egypt, including the Pyramids and the second Abu Qir, Rivoli of the first Italian campaign and Marengo, the latest. Of course, there will be more battles to be won as Napoléon advances his future career. The statesman in Napoléon manifests himself when, after the battle of Marengo, he dictates the following excerpts quoted from his letter to Emperor Francis, “Majesty, the wily English have thwarted my sincere advances to your majesty to advance the cause of peace. The sight of thousands of French and Austrians who lost their lives on the battlefield distresses me to grief. The thought of perpetuity of such horrors has impelled me to make a second appeal to your majesty. The thousands of corpses at the battlefield of Marengo have filled my heart with sorrow. You are far from the battlefield and could not have been deeply moved as I was. We must prevent further bloodshed and warn your majesty not to allow a further escalation of hostilities; instead let us provide our generation with the peace and tranquillity they yearn for. The wisdom of our actions can be imparted to posterity and the subsequent predilection for peace rather than war “There are two forces in this world, the sword and the spirit; ultimately the spirit will win over the sword.” Napoléon’s utterance of these words reflected his inner thoughts and concerns. He was almost defeated at Marengo but for Desaix’s last minute appearances, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. He will continue negotiating while wielding the sword. He has pressing concerns at home; France needs him, he has been the master for less than one year, and there are those who would gloat over his defeat. They vie with each other and jockey for his vacant position should he be defeated or even killed. An armistice must be signed with Austria, but first her forces must be defeated. Marengo was only the first gambit. Moreau’s Army of the Rhine is pursuing the retreating Austrians, it will be only a matter of time before he catches up with them and forces them to draw up battle, but for now the First Consul is pleased with the armistice of July 5th. Napoléon’s enemies at home make him hasten to go back and he embarks on his return journey on January 17th. The wielder of the sword, the hero of the finicky French is not quite enamoured by them. Yet Paris, his mistress, is confused; she admires him, but is hesitant to take him in. The French have suffered through the years of the revolution, leading through the Directory, and now they are experiencing the third marriage. The bride loves what she sees, but is not yet sure if it will last. How can they be sure that this new euphoria will last? The new manifestations of wealth in industry, housing, investments, embellishment of their cities, in particular Paris; who would guarantee its perpetuity should the First Consul perish? Napoléon is aware of these sentiments; his speedy return was prompted by the same sentiment that he requites with the French. Roederer writes in his diary, “For eleven years, the first thought that came up to the Parisians mind in the morning was when can we rid ourselves of our tyrants. Now they say we are pleased but unsure about the duration of this bliss.” The French are genuinely worried about their hero, whom they voted for and whose new constitution they approved by a landslide overwhelming majority; but just like a wife, whose fondness of her husband grows more by the day, so do her worries for herself and her children should he perish in a campaign. After the battle and while still at the theatre of operations a dispatch reaches Napoléon from his Foreign Affairs Minister: “General, your victory has thrilled and inflamed the French. There are no words that can describe the general euphoria of the people or the bewilderment of the foreigners. The people are eager to welcome back their hero; you have turned hope into reality and paved the road for the empire.” Amused with this missive, he smiles and tells Bourriene, “Talleyrand is jockeying for future prominence. He presages my thoughts and reminds me of the Roman senator who offered the throne to Caesar.” But Napoléon is distressed at the bleak sight of casualties. “This is no time for Talleyrand’s adulations; six thousand Frenchmen have fallen and those who were hoping for my death return to their holes.” “General, it has been a good victory. You must be satisfied,” says Bourrienne enthusiastically “Satisfied? What a strange word. Desaix has died. I lost the battle at three o’clock and won it back at five o’clock,” he continues. Then he admits his mistake, “Melas had taken the initiative and attacked with full force. This was unusual conduct by an Austrian general, especially under stormy weather. The violent rains had caused the rivers to overflow and the impression was that the Austrians would withdraw until weather conditions improved. Instead Melas had attacked with all his power, his thirty thousand men and his hundred cannons. He has applied my motto of keeping the forces united and not to be vulnerable at any point; never separate an army the night before an attack; one battalion can be decisive.” In fact, luck played a major role in Napoléon’s victory. His adjutant caught up with Desaix as he moved in the direction of Novi, showed down by heavy rain and mud, not a minute too soon with his master’s counter commanded order to Desaix which read, “I believed that I was going to attack the enemy, but he has surprised me. By God; return if you still can.” Desaix’s bravery leading his grenadiers, supported by salvos of cannons from Marmont’s batteries crashing through the flank of the Austrians, the rallying of the collapsing front supported by young Kellerman’s cuirassiers dashing cavalry charge, won the battle of Marengo for Napoléon. One, however, must never forget his presence on the battlefield; that had inspired and led his troops in the past and would continue to lead them in the future to victories. He has already conquered Milan. He traverses the streets amid the popular clamour. He summons the priests and confides to them, “No society can exist without morals. There are no good morals without religion. Therefore only the religion can give the state a firm and lasting support. A society without religion is like a ship without a compass.” It is like this, how he conducts himself with the people; and by it he must assist at the tedium. He meets with the new Pope Pio VII. What importance if the ideologues protest when the people acclaim him in Lyon, Dijon, in Paris, in Grenoble and in Marseilles? He remembers what Desaix had whispered before dying; “Go tell the First Consul that I am dying, grieved for not having made enough to pass to posterity.” And that very same day, June 14th, Napoléon is informed that Kléber has died, assassinated at the hands of an Arab nationalist. The same day another dispatch is received from Paris; this one is from the Minister of Police, Fouche. He wrote, “Talleyrand and a few of his henchmen have met to discuss the state of affairs in case of a mishap to the First Consul or even defeat. Your victory at Marengo was communicated to them during their deliberations.” There is much to be read between the lines. Fouche is carrying out his duties and not much love is lost between him and Talleyrand, each trying to serve his own purpose, and Napoléon is sceptical about their true intentions. The First Consul sees the chameleon in Talleyrand; he does not trust him, yet he values his experience and reluctantly keeps him in office. He is aware of these corrupt men and in time he will deal with them, but Talleyrand’s malevolence would continue to undermine the very existence of Napoléon and the future empire, as will be seen in later unfolding events. The conqueror would, however, spend a few days repose in Milan. He attends the opera at the Scala, enjoys the performance of the beautiful Prima Donna Grassini, whom he had met during the first campaign. He shall arrange for her to be a star at the Paris opera. His thoughts turn to Paris; he tells Bourrienne, “Those adulating knaves who clamour at my triumphant return hide their true intentions. They wish to rid themselves of their master. Their flummery means nothing to me; my self-confidence, my triumph on the battlefield and the people’s genuine acclamations are my true recompense.” On June 17th, Napoléon leaves Italy heading for France. On July 2nd, 1800, early in the morning, his coach enters the courtyard of the Tuileries. Since the announcement of the victory of Marengo, France is gripped with public rejoicing. Bourrienne implores Napoléon to show himself from the balcony of his office; the inflamed crowd acclaim him with shouts, “Vive Napoléon.” He smiles, raises his hand and salutes them, then he turns to Bourrienne and says; “Listen to these acclamations.” Then in almost a whisper, as if he was not daring to confess it, adds, “For me it’s a sweet sound, like the voice of Prima Donna Grassini. I feel myself blessed for being loved by this people.” The two other consuls, Cambacérès and Lebrun, Ministers Fouche and Talleyrand, members of the Council of State and the Institute of Science, and a delegation of the assemblies, all came, one after the other, admiring and servile. Napoléon receives them cordially then says, “We have returned to see if they have behaved well since I left them.” “Not as much as your Excellency General,” they respond. He takes them separately by the arm and moves away in their company. Then he asks, “What would they have done if I had died?” The guileful Talleyrand protests that the thought was as remote as can be; others confessed to the feelings of disquiet during the hours of uncertainty over the fortune of the battle. They acknowledge amongst themselves, one thought of proposing Carnot Minister of War; Roederer affirms that he would have thought of Joseph Bonaparte; a hubbub ensues, Napoléon calms the situation down and says, “I am back, I am safe, I couldn’t have felt better. We must now seek peace. France needs tranquillity. We must turn our attention to the pressing needs of the nation; we shall and must therefore do all that is possible to maintain peace.” But first General Moreau’s Army of the Rhine must secure a decisive victory over the Austrians to bring them to terms with the French after finally conceding defeat. This, however, will not be achieved until the end of the year 1800, but for now Napoléon has other pressing matters to deal with. His conversation with the gruff but honest Roederer has irritated him; but the tactless Alsatian has spoken the truth: “France would be more secure if we would see a natural heir at your side.” To which Napoléon answered, “I have no son and I do not need nor do I have the interest in having him. I do not have a family spirit. My natural heir is the French people. He is my son.” Roederer, like the rest of the ideologues, has no idea of what the government is. However, he is loyal to Napoléon and only says what he feels is in his best interest; Napoléon ends the conversation with a stark statement: “I am the only one that through my position knows it. I am convinced that nobody I know, with the exception of Louis XVIII or Louis XVI, would be able to govern France at this moment. If I died, it would be a misfortune.” He is almost sure that Josephine is barren; he has not yet considered seriously the idea of a divorce, despite his family’s wishes. He is therefore in self-denial, his answer to Roederer is more extemporaneous than genuine. He loves his family and often spoke of one of their siblings as an heir. In a few years he will divorce Josephine and beget his own son. During the following days, he attends all kinds of ceremonies; necessary but exhausting. He inaugurates the street Desaix, parades by the grounds of Marte and the esplanades of the Tuileries under the heat of July 14th with the crowd breaking the barriers and getting through the invalids acclaiming, “Vive Bonaparte!” He is flanked by his generals; Berthier stands next to him, Murat, the ever-flamboyant, dashing cavalryman looks on as the troops march in review, but Napoléon’s thoughts take him to a more tranquil tryst. Guiseppina Grassini, the Italian Prima Donna, is eagerly awaited. Napoléon sees her advancing through the great hall of the Church of the Invalides, singing under the captured banners of the enemy. Her warm voice foretells the pleasure of a night of passion that they shall share. At the agreed hour she arrives at the door of the apartment located on the mezzanine and Rustam opens the door for her and accompanies her to the conqueror’s room. The next day he attends a banquet of one hundred plates taking place at the Tuileries; he impatiently waits for the moment of toasts and when the President of the Tribunal raises his glass and toasts, “For the wisdom and for civil liberty.” Napoléon exclaims, snapping back firmly before sitting, “For the 14th of July. For the people of France, our sovereign.” The hall bursts out in applause when Napoléon withdraws, knowing that the Prima Donna Grassini is waiting for him for yet another passionate tryst. Every day he meets Cambacérès and Lebrun and the special commission that he constituted to draft the civil code, but he is often taken over by anger. “What do they know of the nation’s needs? Invariably it is avidity that dictates their reasoning.” He understands human desire and that of his own brothers of enriching themselves; Bourrienne himself, whom he sees all day, thinks of nothing else but greed; also the courtiers, above all Bourrienne and Duroc, hope for a matrimony with Hortense de Beauharnais, but Napoléon disappoints them by rejecting the notion outright “I am surrounded by rogues. The whole world is devoted to stealing; this country is corrupted. The same has always happened; no sooner a man becomes minister than he starts constructing a palace.” Even his officers, whom he knows so well after so many years, have changed. Then he soliloquizes, “Like it or not, after so many wars, it is a good thing to enjoy a certain fortune.” Then he asks, “And what about the people? They rose ten years ago in the name of equality, how could they now accept the enormous wealth of a few against the poverty of the majority?” He meets with the personalities of the tribunal; they are chatterboxes and ideologues that have fought against the authority without understanding that authority is necessary, even if for no other reason except repressing the unrest of the mob; with those thoughts in mind he addresses them “I am not a royal whippersnapper; I do not wish to be insulted as if I am a king. I am a soldier born from the people and have ascended by myself. I listen to the whole world, but my head is my one and only adviser.” He is the master, he dictates in an imperious way, he corrects with swift strokes of the pen, hardly legible; he interferes in all aspects of government organizations. His attention to details reflects an unequalled presence of mind. The general is now also an erudite. He has traced new roads, introduced the obligatory creation of a repository or warehouse of archives preserving all details of governmental decisions and actions. He takes measures to formulate the basis of the Bank of France and review every detail in person. On the home front, he has now re-established security in the south of France, a hot bed of Royalist insurgents and advanced the pacification programs in the west of France, but he still has to secure external peace. Austria has rejected the peace proposals of July; her armies on the Danube are still undefeated; it will take General Moreau an additional five months before he achieves victory. England continues to. be unyielding. He tells Berthier, “I may have to continue the war to finally bring peace.” On his return to his office he writes to General Massena, who controls the situation in Italy. “Punishment lessons are necessary. At the first insurgent village of Piedmont, make it a victim of pillage and flames; it is the law of arms.” He then speaks of Louis XVI, “If Louis XVI had fired the guns on the people when they were invading the Tuileries, today he would still be king.” But do the arms suffice to maintain men in check? This question worries him. What do these laws serve, if the established institutions along the centuries, the same that we have lived, can be demolished by an enormous wave of iconoclasts. Roederer is with him at the garden of Malmaison; he has often exchanged views with him, albeit not often to his liking. He tells Roederer, “The society cannot exist without inequality of fortunes, and the inequality of fortunes cannot exist without religion.” Roederer remains impassive and Napoléon continues, “When a man dies of hunger next to another who is satiated, it is impossible to accept this difference if there is no authority to tell him, God desires it like this; it is necessary to have rich and poor in the world, but later and during all eternity the distribution will be made in a different way.” He then conjures up the period in which Rousseau was one of its savant masters and unloaded his thoughts on Roederer “It would have been better for the tranquillity of France that Rousseau had not existed. He is who has prepared the revolution.” Roederer’s silence irks Napoléon and Roederer would say later, “It was not an opportune moment to antagonize the First Consul. Such philosophical discussions invariably lead to nowhere, except added frustration.” But Napoléon continued, “I was believing that it did not reflect on you to regret the atrocities of the revolution. Perhaps it would have been better for the tranquillity of the land that neither Rousseau nor I had existed ever.” Such puzzling statements unsettle the Alsatian and the two walk back into the reception hall. Amongst the invited guests for dinner is the Countess de Guiche, the friend of the Count de Artois. She assures that if the Bourbons were restored to power, they would make him their constable. Bourrienne himself admits that many of Napoléon’s collaborators start to share the idea of a possible return of the king to guarantee the future. One of the invited guests asks, “What would become of us should you not have children?” Napoléon shows him a letter that Louis XVIII has written to him “You let a precious opportunity go by; we can assure the tranquillity of France; I am saying we because I need a Bonaparte for achieving it, and he will not be able to make it without me.” Napoléon then turns to Bourrienne and dictates his reply, “Sir, I received your letter and I thank you for the sincere observations that you make of me. It would be appropriate that you do not desire to return to France, since you would march over a hundred thousand corpses. Sacrifice your interest for the tranquillity and happiness of France. History will acknowledge it for you. I am not insensible to the misfortunes of your family. I will contribute with great pleasure to the peace and tranquillity of your retirement.”

Napoleon at the battle of Rivoli (© Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux – Own work)

General Bonaparte during the coup d’etat of 18 Brumaire (© François Bouchot – www.histoire-image.org)

General Bonaparte giving orders at the battle of Lodi (© Louis-François, Baron Lejeune – Own work) Napoleon on the bridge at Arcole (© Antoine-Jean Gros – Hermitage Torrent)

First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte (© Antoine-Jean Gros – Original uploader was Chevalier de Comparte at de.wikipedia; transfer was stated to be made by User: Stefan Bernd)

The Consulate installed to govern France in 1799 after the French Revolution headed by Napoleon (© Auguste Couder – Joconde database: entry 000PE005164)

The signing of the treaty of of Montefontaine 1800 between the United States of America and France which ended the 1798–1800 Quasi War (© Victor Adam – Unknown source)

Paul Barras (© École française du XIXe siècle. – http://www.napoleon-empire.net) Joseph Fouche. French Statesman who became Minister of Police under First Consul Bonaparte (© Marie-Thérèse de Noireterre – https://www.welt.de)

Napoleon Bonaparte in Egypt (© Internet Archive Book Images – www.flickr.com)

Napoleon Meets Emperor Francis II After The Battle of Austerlitz (© Antoine-Jean Gros – L’Histoire par l’image [1], digital version produced by Agence photographique de la Réunion des musées nationaux [2]

Napoleon Enters Berlin 27th October 1806 (© Charles Meynier – adhoc-immo.de)

Napoleon at the Battle of Friedland 1807. The Emperor is depicted giving instructions to general Nicolas Oudinot. Between them is depicted general Etienne de Nansouty and behind the Emperor, on his right is marshal Michel Ney, duke of Elchingen. (© Horace Vernet – http://aigleconquerant.free.fr)

Napoleon watching the battle of Friedland 1807 (© James Alexander Walker (British, 1841-1898) – http://www.armchairgeneral.com)

Napoleon meets Tzar Alexander at Nemen where they signed the treaty of Tilsit (© Гравюра Ф.Арнольда – Государственный Исторический музей)

CHAPTER 21. THE MARCH AGAINST RUSSIA. The French Emperor after Jena and Davout’s resounding victory at Auerstadt, had controlled the whole of Western Europe to the Older River. His eyes are now set on the east; the Poles, who detested both the Russians and Austrians for fragmenting their state, looked up to Napoléon as a liberator. He will march on to Warsaw where he will be granted a warm heroes’ welcome; but for now he will have to contend with three major issues. First, the British, outraged at the decrees of siege they retaliate by issuing orders on January 1807 placing France and all its allies under international blockade, forbidding the carrying of cloth, food products, metal, wood, and other commodities to any French or French colonies and allies. For England’s naval victory at Trafalgar in October 1805 over the combined fleets of France and Spain had given her the undisputed mastery of the seas. The result of the blockade system was to hurt not only England and France, but the entire continent affecting stock markets and the livelihood of the common people. The second problem troubling Napoléon was Russia. “Russia is in England’s pay and therefore must be vanquished”. A third troubling issue was the ongoing events in Spain and Portugal. Tidings were received by Napoléon that Gooday, the Spanish Minister and lover of the Queen Maria Luisa, wife of the Lunatic Charles IV, had promised to attack France in coordination with Prussia. This document was found when Napoléon entered Berlin, amongst the secret archives of the Prussian government; however, this farce plan was not carried out because of the Prussian debacle that they suffered at Jena. In the seventeenth century, a Bourbon, nephew of Louis XIV had ascended the Spanish throne, given the fact that the Spanish king had no heir and by reasons of Sanguine relation with the Bourbon on Queen’s side, the Bourbon Conde became the king of Spain (the Spanish war of Succession). The Spanish Bourbons were vehement opponents of the French revolution which ended the dynasty of their French consanguine by the execution of the Bourbon Louis XVI. Napoléon was therefore bent on ending their Spanish dynasty and making his brother Joseph king of Spain. This opportunity came about in 1808, when an uprising against the unpopular Godoy took place forcing the Royal family to take refuge in France. By Coercion and guile, the forlorn Charles abdicated, and Spain was annexed to the French Empire. Napoléon will later pay dearly for this temerity will lead to the Iberian war and tie up some of his best marshals and more than three hundred thousand French troops. For now, Napoléon was bent on destroying the Russian army which had withdrawn and avoided battle at Austerlitz. To do that, he will first secure his lines of communications, open negotiations with the Turks and Persians and convince them to open a second font against the Russians to prevent his enemy from concentrating his forces on one front. He will lead his army to Warsaw, where the Poles are waiting to welcome their liberator and are ready to contribute their share to his war effort. Ahead of his main army, Napoléon dispatched a reconnoitring force led by Soult, Lannes, Murat, Bernadotte and his youngest brother Jerome. The objective is to seal off Warsaw against a possible Russian incursion, while he for now remained in Prussia. The Poles who had suffered partitioning of their country in the past years by the three powers of Russia, Austria and Prussia were only too glad to welcome the French as their saviours. On November 18, 1806 the Vanguard of the French army led by Murat, entered a welcoming Warsaw. A month later in December 18, 1806 Napoléon reaches Warsaw to a thundering welcome by the populace. Flanked by the imperial Guard, he repairs to his palatial quarters and at once goes on to work. The idea of giving Poland a king has always been in his mind, his favourite for the throne was General Poniatowski; a noble, valiant and illustrious prince. But first the Poles must levy an army of fifty thousand men “To be worthy of a nation” In Warsaw, at the palace of Poland’s kings, a sumptuous reception is held in honour of the French emperor. In the brilliantly lit Ballroom, polish nobility flocks in to welcome the emperor; the ambiance of genuinely Warm reception leaves the desired impression on Napoléon, but most of all it is the beauty of polish women that leaves him in quandary. He has not been with a consort for quite some time, he grows Sentimental; he speaks cheerfully to his interlocutors while his eyes roam around the vast ballroom, suddenly his gaze is fixed on melancholy beauty. Who is she? He asks. Countess Walewska, the wife of Count Walewska, an old gentleman whom she married because of her exigency. He is beguiled by this gentle fair-haired blue-eyed beauty. She is eighteen years of age, unpretentious, her demeanour reflects decorum and warmth. Although he shuns dancing, he asks her to be his partner for a dance; she, with a confused shy smiles joins him. He is smitten by her beauty. The victor, the conqueror, the emperor is surrounded by adulators whose hopes are focused on him to liberate their country from Russian Yoke. They all prod Walewska to give in to his advances. The next day, he sends her passionate letter. Napoléon is thoroughly obsessed by his emotional feelings; his letters for weeks go un-answered. Finally, on the arguing of her relatives, for the sake of Poland, she relents. She at least meets him and is wooed by him. The romantic advances go on for three days before she finally becomes his. She falls in love with him and remains by his side during his stay in Poland. Josephine wants to join him, sensing something a foot; certainly rumours must have reached her. But although diplomatic in his reply, he protracts, he is languishing in the arms of the Polish beauty, Josephine well past forty, and she has been relegated to the role of a friend, his passion for her waned. After a few weeks in Warsaw, he resumes his campaign; in early January, 1807 he proceeds to Pultsuk, lines of supplies are lacking, Berthier reports that thousands of starving soldiers desert and suicide cases are spotted amongst the troops. Not since the days of Egyptian campaign has he experienced such troubling events; a repetition of the siege of Acre. His advances to the defeated Prussians and Austrians for an alliance are rebuffed. At his northern headquarters at Finckenstein Palace, arrives the Persian envoy, the emissary of the Shahenshah. They reach an accord “the emperor will drive the Tzar out of Georgia and return it to the shah. In return, the Shah exhort the Afghans to attack the English with the aid of a French army guaranteed a safe passage across Persia.” The Turkish envoy, flamboyantly attired, waits his turn for an audience with the emperor. He hands over a dispatch from the sultan; the contents translated, the emperor dictates a letter to Sultan Selim III: “I am ready to send you thousands of men instead of the few hundreds that you required. State your demands and they shall be met forthwith. I offered your emissary artillery batteries and squadrons of accompanying troops, but he declined, lest it touches on Moslems sensitivities. The Shah too is an enemy of Russia and a concerted effort with him will weigh heavily on the enemy” But neither the Ottomans, nor the Persians are in a state of readiness that would enable them to open a second front in the back of the Russians at least not immediately. Napoléon was aware of the Turkish precarious position during his campaign in Egypt; still a show of friendship and an attempt on opening another front against the enemy was worth the effort. He can rely on his marshals, but his brothers continue to be a disappointment. Louis now king of Holland, and good only at sending the emperor complaints about the state of his kingdom. Jerome the Youngest brother is philandering with beautiful actresses instead of attending to affairs at Breslau. In Naples, Joseph is not faring any better than the other two. Lucien has long since exiled himself and has nothing to do with his brother’s plans. Napoléon writes, admonishes and berates them. He demands detailed and laconic reports on their state of affairs and that they should rise up to the challenges and responsibilities of their offices and their imperial titles. Joseph, who neither has the military skill nor the stomach for it, is left in Naples, Louis in Holland, but young Jerome is commissioned and ordered to join the emperor at Poznan. Although Jerome was known for his gallivanting Amorous affairs, yet in later years at the battle of Waterloo, he will distinguish himself in rear guard action against the Prussians. Before embarking in his campaign against the Tzar, Napoléon who earnestly believed in an independent Polish state promised this to the Polish nobility. On January 14, 1807, he set up a directorate of five notable Poles headed by Malachowski. He then declared, “I had never recognised the partition of Poland!” and with this, he created what was later known as independent “Duchy of Warsaw” Napoléon finally receives some good news; on January 15, 1807 the sultan has declared war on both Russia and England. Now is the time to move against the Russians declares the emperor. His forces are numerically less than the enemy; he musters close 90,000 infantry and 26,000 Cavalry; against a combined Russo-Prussian force of around 105,000 infantry and 30,000 Cavalry. But the Russians, although numerically superior in men and artillery pieces, are at a disadvantage in command posts. First of all, they are facing a military genius not known since the days of Hannibal and Alexander, shored up by the best field commanders that France had to offer. Battle hardened men who had won crushing victories at numerous battles and are now under the articulated cohesive command of their renounced emperor. By Contrast, Tzar Alexander, although a brave young man, 25 years of age with valiant generals under his command, they were not a match to Napoléon’s Marshals and generals. Although at Eylau, with formidable array of artillery batteries exceeding four hundred cannons, the Russians under General Bennigsen, stood their ground and for three days and nights. The battle hangs in the balance. On February 7, 1807, Napoléon seized the upper ground before the town of Eylau. He ordered Marshal Soult and Augerrau to move simultaneously on the centre and flank of the town. Marshals Murat Cavalry and Bessiere Imperial Guard to outflank and turn over the Russian Centre. A duel of artillery barrage ensued, thousands of soldiers lay dead on both sides and by mid-afternoon, the French were fighting bloody streets battles that raged well after nine. By 10 p.m., the town was in French hands; while the imperial baggage train was making its way into town seeking quarters oblivious to the presence of Russians. Heavy casualties in the thousands were suffered on both sides. On the 7th and 8th of February, 1807 under severe cold weather conditions, the battle raged on; Ney Corps advancing from the North and Davout from the South. At this stage of battle, the combined force of the French units totalled 47,000 troops, while the Russians under Bennigsen totaled 69,000 troops. The Russians, Prussian ally under General Lestocq’s command provided another 13,000 troops. On the 8th with blizzard weather conditions, the two enemies’ troop formations under freezing either faced each other to resume battle; however, there was still no sign of Davout or Ney squadrons. With the odds now clearly on the Russians side, Napoléon still determined to hold his cavalry on both flanks and infantry corps in the centre supported by the heavy guns. Napoléon shoring up his precarious position, ordered Augereau with his VII corps to cover his right flank while Soult IV corps on his left. By 9 a.m., the battle was raging and artillery batteries blazing on both sides. Napoléon observing the overextended Russian lines, ordered Soult to attack, triggering a counterattack by Jutchkov’s Russian infantry supported by a thundering Cavalry charge to cut off the approaching vanguard of Davout III corps as it advanced from the South. Realizing the danger of being outflanked, Napoléon ordered Augereau to hurl his corps against the Russian centre to ease the pressure on his flanks. Augereau who was ill with fever, advanced with his 10,000 troops against the Russian centre with the support of St. Hilaire’s division. The Russian batteries in the centre-front with over seventy cannons, opened fire on the advancing French decimating their columns and forcing them to recoil. The Russian general Doctorov, Seizing the opportunity, ordered his reserves to counterattack pursuing the French on their heels and threatening Napoléon centre. 8000 Russian troops thrust into Eylau reaching Napoléon headquarter and hand to hand combat ensued with Napoléon guards resulting in losses on both sides. With the arrival of Bessiere’s imperial guard on the scene, the situation was brought back under control; not wasting a movement, Napoléon ordered Murat’s Cavalry to charge the Russian formations. At 12 a.m., the French cavalry 11,000 strong charged the 80 Russians batteries and crushed their centre, but the battle was not over and Russians regrouped; the battles raged on well into the afternoon. With no sight yet of Ney troops, Napoléon ordered Davout to thrust his corps into action forcing the Russians to halt and recoil. To the good fortunes of Bennigsen, the Prussian general Lostocq arrived with his corps to shore up the positions of Bennigsen before the arrival of Ney IV corps, who arrived at sunset, allowing Bennigsen to withdraw his troops by nightfall. The battle of Eylau and the ensuing the street fighting is considered one of the bloodiest with heavy casualties on both sides. As for Napoléon, it was a close call, but Bennigsen withdrew at nightfall; he has conceded Napoléon not a victory but a temporary respite. Dilapidated with heavy losses of 12,000 men, the French were in no position to pursue the Russians who in turn had lost close to 28,000 men. The two armies after a very bloody battle and too weak to resume fighting returned to winter quarters waiting for a better day in the forthcoming spring. Napoléon however still claimed victory in his communique to Paris which in all fairness was untrue; for he was on the verge of defeat had it not been for the outstanding action of the imperial guard and the undisputed feat of Murat’s brilliant cavalry charge against the Russian center at a loss of 1,500 cavalry men from a total of 11,000. On seeing the Carnage, Marshal Ney commented “what have we archived? Nothing! Only Carnage! On returning to Warsaw, Napoléon immediately embarked on preparations of his spring – summer campaign of 1807 against the Russians and their Prussian ally; with his forces depleted at Eylau and Augereau VII corps decimated, the emperor requested the war office in Paris to levy not only the class of 1807, but to conscript an additional 80,000 of 1808 quota. By the end of May, the Grand Armee had swollen over 115,000 men; amongst them 8000 polish volunteers and 6000 Italians. As a first move in his summer campaign, Napoléon dispatched General Le Febvre to capture the part of Danzig which surrendered on May 24, not being able to be relieved by the Russians. The collapse of the fourth coalition and the disunity of the allies added to Napoléon’s good fortunes. Austria, weakened considerably after Austerlitz was unable to intervene militarily, instead she offered to mediate, giving Napoléon more time to re-organize only to rebuff in March her of mediation. The English government, since the death of the belligerent Prime Minister Fox in September 1806, was pre-occupied with her commercial interests in Latin America and become exceedingly isolationist. The Tzar protested that England was not fielding enough soldiers on the continent, instead occupying herself with two abortive expeditions to Argentina and failure of admiral Duckworth to Storm the Dardanelles and compel the Sultan to declare war on France, ending with an ignominious withdrawal. A rupture of Anglo-Prussians relations had taken place in 1805 when Prussia occupied Hanover and was only resumed two years later at the end of April 1807. The fourth coalition was further undermined by the rise of a new peace party in Russia headed by the Tzar Brother prince Constantine. With these auspicious developments in his favor and the disintegration of his enemies, Napoléon decided to deliver his crippling blow. On June 10, the Tzar had marshalled an army of 115,000 men to face Napoléon’s Grand Armee of equal number. In Poland at Finkenstein castle Napoléon’s scouts informed him that Bennigsen army was deploying around Heilsberg North of Warsaw and close to Konigsberg. On June 10 he ordered Marshal Murat backed by Lannes and Savary to attack Bennigsen. At Heilsberg, the battle raged till 10 p.m.; the French were repulsed with heavy losses on both sides. Murat’s arrogance and rashness was to blame for this initial fiasco. Bennigsen, after his initial success at Heilsberg, marched his entire army across the river Alle heading for Damnau; a move for which he will pay dearly at Friedland. Friedland – June 14, 1807. The town is located in East Prussia on the River Alle some 45 kilometres southeast of Konigsberg and 26 kilometres east of the battlefield of Eylau. On June 13th, Napoléon was at his headquarters at Eylau, organizing his plan of attack, believing that Bennigsen was deploying his 60,000 strong army at Damnau. Napoléon army stood at 80,000 men and no less than 120 guns. By the late evening of the 13th the emperor received a dispatch from marshal Lannes who had been ordered to meet the Russians at Damnau, that the main Russian force was concentrating near Freidland. Napoléon ordered him to engage and pin down Bennigsen army giving him time to join battle with his main force. Although outnumbered and outgunned, the stalwart Lannes, always trusted and favoured by Napoléon for his dash and valour, held his own against the numerically superior Russians. A 9a.m, the Russian army had swollen to 45,000; by then Grouchy 8000 cavalry and Mortier’s corps had joined battle with Lannes bringing up the total French force to 35,000. The Russians under Gorchakov and Ovarov, infantry and cavalry launched an attack on. Grouchy and Mortier but were repulsed. Napoléon with his main task force was desparately needed before Bennigsen could unleash his main force against the outnumbered French. At midday, Napoléon arrived from his headquarters at Eylau with Ney and Victor’s Corp and Bessieres Imperial Guard. On viewing the battlefield, Napoléon realized that Bennigsen had placed himself in a bottle neck in the bend of the river Alle which he had crossed the day before. The emperor decided to attack forthwith despite the advice of his generals, to wait Davout and Murat’s arrival with his cavalry. Bennigsen force as Napoléon viewed it from a distance had been brought up to full strength with 120 guns, supported by the Cossack Cavalry and the Russian imperial guard. And exchange of artillery bombardment ensued; realizing the precarious dispositions of the Russians at the bend of the river Alle, Napoléon ordered Marshal Ney’s VI Corps and Lannes commanding the French centre to advance and crush the bottle necked Russians under General Bagration. At 6 p.m. supported by Grouchy’s Cavalry and the reserves of Victor I Corps and the imperial guard under marshal Bessieres, Napoléon launched his attack against a surprised Bennigsen’s who was planning to withdraw across the Alle, believing that Napoléon would not attack at this late hour. Rescinding his order of withdrawal, Bennigsen had no option but to stand his grounds and attempt to repulse the French Assault. The French advancing divisions swept through the weak lines of the Northern wing of Russian light infantry and when the Russian Cavalry valiantly counterattacked, they were repulsed by the French lancers under the general Latour-Maubourg. But as the French advanced, the Russian artillery opened fire creating temporary mayhem among them. Bennigsen taking advantage of the wavering French advance, ordered his Cossacks horsemen to attack their Flank. Without a moment wasted, Napoléon ordered Marshal Victor’s reserve to attack buttressing Ney’s advance corps; with this welcome back up, Ney launched a counter attack against the Cossacks horsemen flank putting them to flight beyond the Eylau Wood. Ney, supported by Victor and Lannes and Mortier firmly holding the centre, moved now boldly against the flagging Russian lines. A desperate Russian bayonet charge was aborted and the attackers were thrown back into the river Alle in a counter bayonet charge with heavy losses. The French batteries moving close behind Ney’s advance finally opened fire on the concentrated Russian lines flattening entire companies and putting Bennigsen left flank in imminent danger of being wiped out. As a last attempt to avert complete Rout, Bennigsen ordered the proud imperial guard to attack Ney’s flank, but by then Bessieres Imperial Guard Cavalry counter attacked and checked the Russians while Ney’s troops were debauching victoriously into the outskirts of Freidland. By 8:30 p.m, Marshal Ney had secured Freidland and put the Russian to flight, setting the town on fire as they scurried out. To annihilate the beleaguered Russians, Napoléon ordered Grouchy and d’Espange forty squadrons of massed cavalry to deliver the final blow, only to find them halted by 25 Russian squadrons under UVAROV. This lucky break gave Bennigsen enough time to get men across the one remaining bridge (three had been destroyed) and miraculously a ford on the Alle located north of the town. At 11:00 pm, the French had won a decisive victory at Freidland and with it the collapse of the fourth coalition. Bennigsen and his dilapidated troops fled up the Baltic Coast reaching the small town of Tilsit and encamping on the other side of the river Nieman. Freidland was won without Murat, for neither he nor Davout arrived on time to join battle; and while Napoléon military genius is undisputed, yet much of the credit if not the greater part of it goes to Marshal Ney. Through his audacious advance, Lannes and Mortier’s stalwart holding of the centre against numerically superior Russian forces, Bessieres’ imperial guard, Latour-Maubourg holt of the Russian cavalry charge and even the lack-lustre conduct of Grouchy and de-Espange cavalry. The Russians fought valiantly, but their own errors in deployment and array of troops at the bend of the river Alle were amongst the reasons that brought this decisive defeat. Napoléon’s empire on June 14, 1807 stands on its Zenith. He crushed the Russians at Freidland, the Prussians at Jena and Austrians at Austerlitz. His enemies have disintegrated; the fourth coalition collapsed, and Russia is now ready to sue for peace. “This is massacre, not a war anymore”. Lamented Bennigsen to Archduke Constantine. Four days after the battle, Tzar Alexander, on the advice of his generals including Bennigsen and Bagration, sued for peace. The Russians had lost 20,000 men to the French 8,000 in addition to their artillery. The victory at Freidland coincided with the anniversary of Napoléon’s victory at Marengo. An elated emperor sends a communique to this effect to Paris; a Te Deum is held at Notre-Dame Cathedral in the usual fashion of prior victories. Talleyrand who has followed Napoléon and is now at Danzig sends a scrupulously warded congratulatory message: “Sire, I hear the news of your glorious victory at Freidland, and pray it heralds a deserved new era of peace and tranquillity for your majesty and your people.” On June 22, 1807, on a raft in the river Niemen, a shimmering tent is erected with Russians and French flags flying over it. On opposite banks of the river the imperial guards of the emperor and Tzar bedecked in their glistening uniform stand at attention. Boats embark from the opposite banks carrying the sovereigns to the peace tent; Euphoric mood sweeps over the guard and with thundering applause they cheer their emperors. Napoléon persuasive and charming demeanour wins over the Vanquished Tzar and a peace treaty is signed between the foes of yesterday, dividing the European Continent into an eastern and western spheres of influence, Russia is given a free hand in dealing with northern European states of Sweden, Finland and Baltic. Prussia loses her Polish territories and Jerome Bonaparte, the emperor’s youngest brother becomes king of the newly established kingdom Westphalia. To better understand the beguiling influence that Napoléon exercised over the young Tzar, a close scrutiny of the two men would reveal the reasons for the Tzar’s shift of alliances. “He is a charming fellow, impetuous, handsome and more intelligent than usually supposed”. Says Napoléon. The Tzar is tall, fair in complexion, blue-eyed and strikingly attractive, prompting Napoléon to say “Had he been a woman, I should passionately fall in love with him.” The Tzar in his turn falls under Napoléon’s spell and incessantly extolls his genius, asking him to teach him the art of war. “I feel that I am not emperor like you are, for I am dependent on my generals.” Assuming the role of the mentor, Napoléon during their strolls together explains to the Tzar the defensive positions of a redoubt and how to take an impregnable fortification by storm. Then he tells the Tzar “should I be again at war with Austria, I would put you on the head of a thirty-thousand-man army, so you could learn the art of war.” All the while, during the dinners and private meeting between the two emperors, Talleyrand who had fallen out of favours with Napoléon, was kept out. For Napoléon was becoming circumspect about the guileful foreign minister’s conduct and the dubious designs that he harboured for the emperor. To please the Tzar, Napoléon had reluctantly agreed to an armistice with Prussia while the humiliated Prussian king awaited the Tzar return on the right bank of the Niemen. That same afternoon, the armistice was signed between France and Prussia. The following day, a second meeting was held on the raft between the two emperors joined by the Prussian king; while the Tzar was ecstatic with Napoléon dialogue, the Prussian king was relegated to a listener role and further insulted by Napoléon’s haughty conduct towards time. In later years, the Prussians will wreak revenge on Napoléon, but for now they are vanquished and have no choice but to acquiesce to the conqueror’s demands. On June 29, 1807, the mood between the two emperors is jovial; already the terms of the treaty of Tilzit are agreed upon and the final touches are being put to the details. Talleyrand who had arrived on the 29th is excluded from dinners and Napoléon’s private meetings with the Tzar. He is affronted and bears his grudge to take revenge on his master during the later years of the empire. But for now, he will be employed to sign the details of the treaty. During the two weeks since the two emperors met, a profound relationship had developed between them. Napoléon allowed no one to their private meetings or during their rides and dinners which took a daily form. Feeling insecure and affronted, Frederick William summons the queens to Tilsit. Informed of her arrival, Napoléon is curious about this steadfast beautiful woman and intimates that he will be pleased to receive her. Befitting accommodations are prepared for the queen, and then flanked by his generals the emperor rides to meet her; the queen attired in long white silk dress adorned with Jewels and looking strikingly beautiful stands at the head of the flight of steps to welcome her foe of yesterday. A Cordial, but recriminatory conversation ensues, she pleads for her country and her husband; he expostulates. “How many times have I offered peace? And have you not yourself destroyed my friendships”? “Sire, your noble heart unites with your magnanimous character”. During the course of this unusual conversation, the king enters the room. “Just as well,” says Napoléon, “For she may have conduced me to make more concessions than I would have liked to.” He tells the Tzar. The emperor is clearly beguiled by the queen; “A remarkable woman; instead of depriving her of a crown, one is tempted to lay one at her feet.” No less admiring of Napoléon, she writes “His whole appearance reminds one of a Roman emperor; his features are those of the thinker. When he smiles, his lineaments assume a gentle expression” On July 9, 1807, following the treaty of Tilsit, Napoléon signed a treaty with forlorn Prussians whereby Prussia lost more than one third its territory. Like the Russians, the Prussians under the peace treaty were forbidden to maintain maritime contracts with their one time ally England depriving her of the last European ports by the collapse of the fourth coalition collapsed, Russia became an ally of France, the Capricious Tzar at least for now became a dedicated friend of Napoléon, Prussia defeated and humiliated would pay war reparation before France would evacuate her territory. In July 1807 Napoléon has ruled the western half of the European continent either through direct annexation of countries like Holland and Belgium or through Vassal Kingdoms. But for this ephemeral resounding success, Napoléon would one day face the bitter retaliation of these vanquished kingdoms. In 1813 this bitterness will face him at Leipzig known as the Battle of Nations. But now in mid-1807, Napoléon is the absolute master of Europe. Ultimately Napoléon’s occupation of Spain on 1807 and his 1812 campaign against Russia will bring his downfall; for the mercurial Tzar on pretext of his own, he re-opens the ports for English ships and resumes mercantile trading with England. Such are the events to come, they will be the precursor to the downfall of Napoléon empire. To better understand the unreliable alliance between the French and Russians, a closer look at the 32-year-old Tzar’s personality would be in order. Prince Metternich delineates an appropriate picture of the mercurial Tzar character: “A mingling of masculine merits with feminine defects; imperfectly thought out of favourite ideas, initiate sudden impulses. As a result, sudden embarrassments. He gives his word too quickly, and then finds it very difficult to keep; not strong enough for ambition in the grand style, and now weak enough for mere vanity; a man of the world rather than a ruler. There is a sort of periodicity in his enthusiasms and disenchantments; a period of five-year terms during which an idea shines and wanes. At the close of each cycle, a new one open. To begin with he is liberal. Then he is filleds with hatred for the Frenchmen, then he passes under the Frenchman influence. Metternich, true to his prophecy, five years hence in 1802, the period comes to an end and the friends of today will be at war again. Napoléon, during the long hours spent with the Tzar had his own premonitions about the Tzar whimsical character and foresaw that their alliance was the result of he impulsive caprices and whims of the Tzar. Austerlitz Dec. 2, 1805, Jena-Aerostadt October 14, 1806 and Friedland June 14, 1807. Napoléon has been campaigning in excess of two years; he spent more time in the field during this period than he did in Paris and by end July 1807, he had spent close to a whole year away from Paris; his concerns when away from the capital multiplied and he had to act on the home front. With indefatigable diligence, he set out issuing decrees, attending to every detail and making his presence felt in Paris although he was thousands of miles away. On July 27, 1807 Napoléon returns to Paris; he has been absent since October 1806, a total of ten month. He finds Paris wife with rumours; the Parisians assume a sceptical reaction to his victories, tens of thousands had been killed in battle or missing, despite that, a euphoric mood reigns over the nation as the victorious French legions parade through the streets of Paris. The stock market rose dramatically; war reparations exacted from the vanquished Prussians and Russian inundated the coffers of the French treasury. A new university is founded. He spends lavishly on renovations of government buildings, the opera and civil institutions but when he considers his personal needs, he is usual thrifty. He is Irate when he is charged more than others “Just because I am emperor.” His study consists of the great writing table and a settee on which he occasionally lounges; when dictating, he stands or roam about the room; in his study he displays the busts of Hannibal and Caesar and in an adjoining room, Frederick the Great. On matters state security, newspapers critical of the regime are suppressed, censorship is enforced more rigidly, plays are scrutinized and critical passages are struck out; choice of operas topics must be approved by Napoléon himself as well as their content, drama must deal with history of antiquity, remote himself from current events and last but not the least religious subjects are forbidden. To his humming detractors, Napoléon raises the following befitting questions “Do they want to return to the days of the Directory?” Those days are reminiscent of the period of the English civil war 1642-1648 when people broke with the church doctrine and individuals conducted prayers whimsically. This prompted an English poet of that period to sarcastically describe the hubbub in verse; he wrote: “When women preach and cobblers pray, the friends in hell make a holiday.” When the vitriolic Madame de Stael requested permission to return to Paris, she was turned down. She was Napoléon’s nemesis in her diatribe and could never forgive his rebuff to her advances. As for Fouche, Napoléon reprimands him for his perfunctory policing. 1807, three years have passed since he became emperor. His victories dazzle the world; the empire has reached its Pinnacle of greatness; he will now attend to domestic issues that beset him during his prolonged absence. Talleyrand is replaced by Mompere de Champagny, an ex-foreign minister; the scheming Talleyrand with a sense of impunity was implicated in conspiratorial insidious plots against his master. Reports with tangible evidence has reached Napoléon; but at Tilsit he took no immediate action against his foreign minister, instead he humiliated him and kept him out of negotiations and his personal social meetings with the Tzar. Talleyrand who has been catapulted to the highest positions in France pompous titles, vice-grand elector of the Empire, prince Benevento, foreign minister and all the millions in financial rewards that Napoléon heaped on him, were now a by-gone memory. But the guileful Sycophant kept offering the emperor his officious’ services although un-called for. He later purported that he liked the emperor but could not condone his temerity in dealing with European affairs. There may be an element of truth in Talleyrand admiration and liking of Napoléon, but this can only be explained as whimsical, for at the end he not only provoked to be Quizling Sycophant, but an outright traitor. Following his return from Tilsit, not to be upstaged by the European loyal houses court etiquette, he enforced his own. Gone were the days of the mirthful nights at Malmaison during the consulate where the atmosphere was juvial and informal. Now audience with the emperor could only be granted after the approval of Duroc, the grand marshal of the palace. Napoléon, imperator emulating and even surpassing Roman emperors of antiquity decreed that “French people owe Napoléon I, our emperor, respect, love, loyalty, obedience, fervent prayers and military service; because God has heaped on him his blessings in peace and war and made him image on earth”. If the heir of revolution believes this of himself, then the French, many of them would believe it too. Napoléon creates a paradox of unprecedented dimensions. His derisory comments of the old nobility, have turned into genuine pleasure when welcoming them at his court. Mingling with the French nobility, German Princes of the federation of the Rhine, heirs apparent of Bavaria and Baden, polish barons and others of noble lineage, all flock to the court of the emperor. They impart the complementary aura which Napoléon perceived as essential policy of wining their allegiance. In October, 1807, Napoléon creates a new nobility, an anomalous step that contradicts the code de Napoléon; the emperor justifies his decree “Because France is moving upward”. Then he adds “The masses love equality but individuals love distinction; I will reward merit with the title disregarding the questions of lineage; with granted estates, hereditary titles are bequeathed for the most deserving individual”. Who are those deserving individuals? They come from his immediate entourage or relatives. His brothers are now Royal Highnesses, his sisters are princesses, his generals Marsal Bessieres duc d’istrie, Marshal Bernadotte prince de Ponte Corvo (and later king of Sweden), Marshal Berthier prince de Neuchatel et de Wagram, Marshal Massena duc de Rivoli and prince d’essling, Marshal Marmount duc de Rague, General Junot duc d’Abrantes, Marshal Augereau duc de Castiglione, Marechal Ney duc d’Elchingen, Marechal Mortier duc de Trevise, Marechal Macdonald duc de Tarente, Marshal Oudinot duc de Reggio, Marechal Poniatowski prince (the only true hereditary prince of noble stock) his uncle was the king of Poland, Marechal Victor duc de Bellume, Marechal Moncey duc de Conegliano, descendant of French nobility. Josephine son Eugene becomes prince and viceroy of Italy (1805). These titles of Napoléon’s new founded nobility multiply with time into thousands; during the second empire of his nephew Louis Napoléon III and through its duration of approximately twenty years, new accolades are added to his uncle’s nobility and generously rewarded. On his return from Tilsit, Napoléon was dogged by three mayor issues; the Iberian Peninsula, the Pope and the continental siege against England. He will deal with them simultaneously; he first deals with the recalcitrant Pope who wields excessive temporal power which Napoléon considers obstructive and against his interests. He writes Eugene the Viceroy of Italy “Priests are to be concerned with their clerical affairs; the pope must desist from wielding mundane power”. Then Mid November he sets out to Italy reaching Milan on November 23, 1807. During his stay, he makes short work of the Papal States and in April 2, 1808 the French troops occupy Rome and through the course of the year the remaining Papal States. This will eventually leads to a break up of relations between Napoléon and the Pope and Papal bull excommunicating the emperor in June 1809. However, in 1808 after occupying the entire Italian Peninsula including the Papal States, Napoléon effectively locked out British shipping from the Italian ports. But the continental system to Napoléon chagrin had its loopholes through Belgium port of Ostend, Holland which his brother king Louis handled with kids glove, Sweden and Denmark. The pope refusal to bar English ships from Italian ports so much irked Napoléon that he responded by occupying Ancona, and later when Pope excommunicated him, the emperor retaliated by removing the Pope from his Quiriniac Palace to Avignon, the holy seat of Popes in the XIII century which remained so till late XV century before finally, the first of them Pope Borghia the Spaniards moved back to Rome. In 1807, November Napoléon had manifested his intentions and designs on Italy, after he failed to convince the Pope to appoint additional French cardinals to secure a majority in his favor. To mitigate his rebuff, the Pope proposed to crown Napoléon “Emperor of the West” but to Napoléon this was already a foregone de facto, for he already considers himself the new Charlemagne and the Pope is appeasement comes to naught. He sends to the Pope a tacitly threatening letter: “Your holiness is the sovereign in Rome, but I am emperor of Rome. You confine yourself to Ecclestiacle affairs of the holy been; see is mundane power and the whole of Italy is subject to my laws”. When the Pope remains recalcitrant, Napoléon fires back: “God protects me and crowns my victories with his glory”. Then he impishly adds an implicit threat “your holiness are at liberty to give my plenipotentiary, his papers. You are even at liberty to receive the English envoy or that of the caliph. I pray that God may keep you for many more years at the head of the holy church” Your pious son, the Emperor of the French and King of Italy” Thus with the occupation of Rome, the Papal States in April become a provinces and forlorn pope can only watch as he had been forcibly removed to Avignon. In Wurttemberg, Jerome, the youngest of the emperor’s brothers, squanders his time among the multitude of mistresses: he is 23 years of age and source of perpetual embarrassment for the emperor. He is king of Westphalia, but to the disappointment of the emperor, he conducts himself wantonly, lavishing gifts on his mistresses and individuals of undeserving merits. Even when Napoléon berates his brother, it is done with paternal reproach, no threats, no browbeating; he admonishes him and the young man takes his brother’s counsel in stride. But when the Emperor found out that his brother is in debt, he fires at him “Sell your horses, sell your estates: to be in debt is ignominious!” On another occasion, the amiable Jerome asks the emperor to make him commander in chief; Napoléon replied “What? Are you serious? After you have been through six campaigns and after you had several horses shot under you, you can then ask me again” Napoléon’s lifestyle after his return from Tilsit has transformed dramatically. He would receive no one without being summoned; he is formal even with the closest of his old comrades in arms. Although he had made them dukes and princes, yet he is determined to impart on them the aura of the imperial majesty. Napoléon in the course of his life begets several illegitimate children; they will all grow to become men of eminent position during the second empire of his nephew Napoléon III. But when an important mother bearing his child insists on seeing him, he denies permission saying he would receive no one he had not summoned. But later he joyfully sees the child alone and provides his mother with a house and income. The fact that he was not sterile and that it was Josephine who was barren after all, thrilled him. In the meantime, he had sent for Countess Walewska, a woman he truly loved but would not marry. He wanted to be related to one of the imperial houses in Europe by marriage, to further vindicate his own claim and that of his descendants on the imperial thrown. The countess is sumptuously provided for but keeps a low profile during her stay. And no one occasion provided when he had failed to convince his brother Lucien to divorce his wife and take a mistress until he finds the right woman to measure up to his princely standard, he tells him “Walewska, the Polish countess and extraordinary woman, an angel, you laugh to see that I am in love; I truly love her, but I never forget considerations of policy.” But no amount of cajoling or treats would change Lucien’s mind, not even a promise to be the king of Spain, the country in which he served as ambassador. Napoléon is quite aware of Lucien abilities, after all, he had helped save the day for his brother during the coup d’état, but alas, Lucien’s recalcitrance not only alienated him from the emperor, but deprived him as well from the services of a very capable brother

The coronation of Napoleon (© Jacques-Louis David – art database)

Vive L’Empereur! (© Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier – http://www.gutenberg.org)

Napoleon at his bivouac on the 5th of July 1809, before the second day of the battle of Wagram. Around the campfire are Marshals and General Staff Officers (© Adolphe Roehn – http://images.google.fr)

Lannes mortally wounded at the battle of Essling (© Paul-Émile Boutigny – http://www.oldantiqueprints.com)

Napoleon in the battle of Moscow (© VERNET, Carle (1758–1836) and LECOMTE, Hippolyte (1781–1857) – McGill University Libraries, [1]

The retreat from Moscow (© Adolph Northen (1828–1876) – [1])

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