Читать книгу Letters to Josephine - Napoleon Bonaparte - Страница 8
ОглавлениеSeptember 4th.—Austrian right wing defeated at Roveredo.
September 5th.—Bonaparte enters Trent, cutting off Wurmser from his base. Defeats Davidowich on the Lavis and leaves Vaubois to contain this general while he follows Wurmser.
September 6th.—Wurmser continues his advance, his outposts occupy Vicenza and Montebello.
September 7th.—Combat of Primolano: Austrians defeated. Austrian vanguard attack Verona, but are repulsed by General Kilmaine.
September 8th.—Battle of Bassano: Wurmser completely routed, and retires on Legnago.
No. 10.
To Josephine, at Milan.
Montebello, Noon, September 10, 1796.
My Dear,—The enemy has lost 18,000 men prisoners; the rest killed or wounded. Wurmser, with a column of 1500 cavalry, and 500 infantry, has no resource but to throw himself into Mantua.
Never have we had successes so unvarying and so great. Italy, Friuli, the Tyrol, are assured to the Republic. The Emperor will have to create a second army: artillery, pontoons, baggage, everything is taken.
In a few days we shall meet; it is the sweetest reward for my labours and anxieties.
A thousand fervent and very affectionate kisses.
Bonaparte.
September 11th.—Skirmish at Cerea: Austrians successful. Bonaparte arrives alone, and is nearly captured.
No. 11.
To Josephine, at Milan.
Ronco, September 12, 1796, 10 A.M.
My dear Josephine,—I have been here two days, badly lodged, badly fed, and very cross at being so far from you.
Wurmser is hemmed in, he has with him 3000 cavalry and 5000 infantry. He is at Porto-Legnago; he is trying to get back into Mantua, but for him that has now become impossible. The moment this matter shall be finished I will be in your arms.
I embrace you a million times.
Bonaparte.
September 13th.—Wurmser, brushing aside the few French who oppose him, gains the suburbs of Mantua.
September 14th.—Massena attempts a surprise, but is repulsed.
September 15th.—Wurmser makes a sortie from St. Georges, but is driven back.
September 16th.—And at La Favorite, with like result.
No. 12.
To Josephine, at Milan.
Verona, September 17, 1796.
My Dear,—I write very often and you seldom. You are naughty, and undutiful; very undutiful, as well as thoughtless. It is disloyal to deceive a poor husband, an affectionate lover. Ought he to lose his rights because he is far away, up to the neck in business, worries and anxiety. Without his Josephine, without the assurance of her love, what in the wide world remains for him. What will he do?
Yesterday we had a very sanguinary conflict; the enemy has lost heavily, and been completely beaten. We have taken from him the suburbs of Mantua.
Adieu, charming Josephine; one of these nights the door will be burst open with a bang, as if by a jealous husband, and in a moment I shall be in your arms.
A thousand affectionate kisses.
Bonaparte.
October 2nd.—(Moreau defeats Latour at Biberach, but then continues his retreat.)
October 8th.—Spain declares war against England.
October 10th.—Peace with Naples signed.
No. 13.
To Josephine, at Milan.
Modena, October 17, 1796, 9 P.M.
The day before yesterday I was out the whole day. Yesterday I kept my bed. Fever and a racking headache both prevented me writing to my beloved; but I got your letters. I have pressed them to my heart and lips, and the grief of a hundred miles of separation has disappeared. At the present moment I can see you by my side, not capricious and out of humour, but gentle, affectionate, with that mellifluent kindness of which my Josephine is the sole proprietor. It was a dream, judge if it has cured my fever. Your letters are as cold as if you were fifty; we might have been married fifteen years. One finds in them the friendship and feelings of that winter of life. Fie! Josephine. It is very naughty, very unkind, very undutiful of you. What more can you do to make me indeed an object for compassion? Love me no longer? Eh, that is already accomplished! Hate me? Well, I prefer that! Everything grows stale except ill-will; but indifference, with its marble pulse, its rigid stare, its monotonous demeanour!...
A thousand thousand very heartfelt kisses.
I am rather better. I start to-morrow. The English evacuate the Mediterranean. Corsica is ours. Good news for France, and for the army.
Bonaparte.
October 25th.—(Moreau recrosses the Rhine.)
November 1st.—Advance of Marshal Alvinzi. Vaubois defeated by Davidovich on November 5th, after two days' fight.
November 6th.—Napoleon successful, but Vaubois' defeat compels the French army to return to Verona.
No. 14.
To Josephine, at Milan.
Verona, November 9, 1796.
My Dear,—I have been at Verona since the day before yesterday. Although tired, I am very well, very busy; and I love you passionately at all times. I am just off on horseback.
I embrace you a thousand times.
Bonaparte.
November 12th.—Combat of Caldiero: Napoleon fails to turn the Austrian position, owing to heavy rains. His position desperate.
November 15th.—First battle of Arcola. French gain partial victory.
November 16th and 17th.—Second battle of Arcola. French completely victorious "Lodi was nothing to Arcola" (Bourrienne).
November 17th.—Death of Czarina Catherine II. of Russia.
November 18th.—Napoleon victoriously re-enters Verona by the Venice gate, having left it, apparently in full retreat, on the night of the 14th by the Milan gate.
No. 15.
From Bourrienne's "Life of Napoleon," vol. i. chap. 4.
Verona, November 19th, Noon.
My Adored Josephine,—Once more I breathe freely. Death is no longer before me, and glory and honour are once more re-established. The enemy is beaten at Arcola. To-morrow we will repair Vaubois' blunder of abandoning Rivoli. In a week Mantua will be ours, and then your husband will clasp you in his arms, and give you a thousand proofs of his ardent affection. I shall proceed to Milan as soon as I can; I am rather tired. I have received letters from Eugène and Hortense—charming young people. I will send them to you as soon as I find my belongings, which are at present somewhat dispersed.
We have made five thousand prisoners, and killed at least six thousand of the enemy. Good-bye, my adored Josephine. Think of me often. If you cease to love your Achilles, if for him your heart grows cold, you will be very cruel, very unjust. But I am sure you will always remain my faithful mistress, as I shall ever remain your fond lover. Death alone can break the chain which sympathy, love, and sentiment have forged. Let me have news of your health. A thousand and a thousand kisses.
No. 16.
To Josephine, at Milan.
Verona, November 23, 1796.
I don't love you an atom; on the contrary, I detest you. You are a good for nothing, very ungraceful, very tactless, very tatterdemalion. You never write to me; you don't care for your husband; you know the pleasure your letters give him, and you write him barely half-a-dozen lines, thrown off anyhow.
How, then, do you spend the livelong day, madam? What business of such importance robs you of the time to write to your very kind lover? What inclination stifles and alienates love, the affectionate and unvarying love which you promised me? Who may this paragon be, this new lover who engrosses all your time, is master of your days, and prevents you from concerning yourself about your husband? Josephine, be vigilant; one fine night the doors will be broken in, and I shall be before you.
Truly, my dear, I am uneasy at getting no news from you. Write me four pages immediately, and some of those charming remarks which fill my heart with the pleasures of imagination.
I hope that before long I shall clasp you in my arms, and cover you with a million kisses as burning as if under the equator.
Bonaparte.
No. 17.
Verona, November 24, 1796.
I hope soon, darling, to be in your arms. I love you to distraction. I am writing to Paris by this courier. All goes well. Wurmser was beaten yesterday under Mantua. Your husband only needs Josephine's love to be happy.
Bonaparte.
No. 18.
To Josephine, at Genoa.
Milan, November 27, 1796, 3 P.M.
I get to Milan; I fling myself into your room; I have left all in order to see you, to clasp you in my arms.... You were not there. You gad about the towns amid junketings; you run farther from me when I am at hand; you care no longer for your dear Napoleon. A passing fancy made you love him; fickleness renders him indifferent to you.
Used to perils, I know the remedy for weariness and the ills of life. The ill-luck that I now suffer is past all calculations; I did right not to anticipate it.
I shall be here till the evening of the 29th. Don't alter your plans; have your fling of pleasure; happiness was invented for you. The whole world is only too happy if it can please you, and only your husband is very, very unhappy.
Bonaparte.
No. 19.
To Josephine, at Genoa.
Milan, November 28, 1796, 8 P.M.
I have received the courier whom Berthier had hurried on to Genoa. You have not had time to write me, I feel it intuitively. Surrounded with pleasures and pastimes, you would be wrong to make the least sacrifice for me. Berthier has been good enough to show me the letter which you wrote him. My intention is that you should not make the least change in your plans, nor with respect to the pleasure parties in your honour; I am of no consequence, either the happiness or the misery of a man whom you don't love is a matter of no moment.
For my part, to love you only, to make you happy, to do nothing which may vex you, that is the object and goal of my life.
Be happy, do not reproach me, do not concern yourself in the happiness of a man who lives only in your life, rejoices only in your pleasure and happiness. When I exacted from you a love like my own I was wrong; why expect lace to weigh as heavy as gold? When I sacrifice to you all my desires, all my thoughts, every moment of my life, I obey the sway which your charms, your disposition, and your whole personality have so effectively exerted over my unfortunate heart. I was wrong, since nature has not given me attractions with which to captivate you; but what I do deserve from Josephine is her regard and esteem, for I love her frantically and uniquely.
Farewell, beloved wife; farewell, my Josephine. May fate concentrate in my breast all the griefs and troubles, but may it give Josephine happy and prosperous days. Who deserves them more? When it shall be quite settled that she can love me no more, I will hide my profound grief, and will content myself with the power of being useful and serviceable to her.
I reopen my letter to give you a kiss.... Ah! Josephine!... Josephine!
Bonaparte.
December 24th.—French under Hoche sail for Ireland; return "foiled by the elements."
January 7th, 1797.—Alvinzi begins his new attack on Rivoli, while Provera tries to get to Mantua with 11,000 men viâ Padua and Legnago. Alvinzi's total forces 48,000, but only 28,000 at Rivoli against Bonaparte's 23,000.
January 9th.—Kehl (after 48 days' siege) surrenders to Archduke Charles.
January 10th.—Napoleon at Bologna advised of the advance, and hastens to make Verona, as before, the pivot of his movements.
No. 20.
January 12th.—Combat of St. Michel: Massena defeats Austrians.
To Josephine, at Milan.
Verona, January 12, 1797.
Scarcely set out from Roverbella, I learnt that the enemy had appeared at Verona. Massena made some dispositions, which have been very successful. We have made six hundred prisoners, and have taken three pieces of cannon. General Brune got seven bullets in his clothes, without being touched by one of them—this is what it is to be lucky.
I give you a thousand kisses. I am very well. We have had only ten men killed, and a hundred wounded.
Bonaparte.
January 13th.—Joubert attacked; retires from Corona on Rivoli in the morning, joined by Bonaparte at night.
January 14th.—Battle of Rivoli: Austrian centre defeated. Bonaparte
at close of day hurries off with Massena's troops to overtake Provera, marching sixteen leagues during the night. Massena named next day enfant chéri de la victoire by Bonaparte, and later Duc de Rivoli.
January 15th.—Joubert continues battle of Rivoli: complete defeat of Austrians. Provera, however, has reached St. Georges, outside Mantua.
January 16th—Sortie of Wurmser at La Favorite repulsed. Provera, hurled back by Victor (named the Terrible on this day), is surrounded by skilful manœuvres of Bonaparte, and surrenders with 6000 men. In three days Bonaparte had taken 18,000 prisoners and all Alvinzi's artillery. Colonel Graham gives Austrian losses at 14,000 to 15,000, exclusive of Provera's 6000.
January 26th.—Combat of Carpenedolo: Massena defeats the Austrians.
February 2nd.—Joubert occupies Lawis. Capitulation of Mantua, by Wurmser, with 13,000 men (and 6000 in hospital), but he, his staff, and 200 cavalry allowed to return. Enormous capture of artillery, including siege-train abandoned by Bonaparte before the battle of Castiglione. Advance of Victor on Rome.
No. 21.
To Josephine, at Bologna.
Forli, February 3, 1797.
I wrote you this morning. I start to-night. Our forces are at Rimini. This country is beginning to be tranquillised. My cold makes me always rather tired.
I idolise you, and send you a thousand kisses.
A thousand kind messages to my sister.
Bonaparte.
February 9th.—Capture of Ancona.
No. 22.
To Josephine, at Bologna.
Ancona, February 10, 1797.
We have been at Ancona these two days. We took the citadel, after a slight fusillade, and by a coup de main. We made 1200 prisoners. I sent back the fifty officers to their homes.
I am still at Ancona. I do not press you to come, because everything is not yet settled, but in a few days I am hoping that it will be. Besides, this country is still discontented, and everybody is nervous.
I start to-morrow for the mountains. You don't write to me at all, yet you ought to let me have news of you every day.
Please go out every day; it will do you good.
I send you a million kisses. I never was so sick of anything as of this vile war.
Good-bye, my darling. Think of me!
Bonaparte.
No. 23.
To Josephine, at Bologna.
Ancona, February 13, 1797.
I get no news from you, and I feel sure that you no longer love me. I have sent you the papers, and various letters. I start immediately to cross the mountains. The moment that I know something definite, I will arrange for you to accompany me; it is the dearest wish of my heart.
A thousand and a thousand kisses.
Bonaparte.
No. 24.
To Josephine, at Bologna.
February 16, 1797.
You are melancholy, you are ill; you no longer write to me, you want to go back to Paris. Is it possible that you no longer love your comrade? The very thought makes me wretched. My darling, life is unbearable to me now that I am aware of your melancholy.
I make haste to send you Moscati, so that he may look after you. My health is rather bad; my cold gets no better. Please take care of yourself, love me as much as I love you, and write me every day. I am more uneasy than ever.
I have told Moscati to escort you to Ancona, if you care to come there. I will write to you there, to let you know where I am.
Perhaps I shall make peace with the Pope, then I shall soon be by your side; it is my soul's most ardent wish.
I send you a hundred kisses. Be sure that nothing equals my love, unless it be my uneasiness. Write to me every day yourself. Good-bye, dearest.
Bonaparte.
No. 25.
February 19th.—Peace of Tolentino with the Pope, who has to pay for his equivocal attitude and broken treaty.
To Josephine, at Bologna.
Tolentino, February 19, 1797.
Peace with Rome has just been signed. Bologna, Ferrara, Romagna, are ceded to the Republic. The Pope is to pay us thirty millions shortly, and various works of art.
I start to-morrow morning for Ancona, and thence for Rimini, Ravenna, and Bologna. If your health permit, come to Rimini or Ravenna, but, I beseech you, take care of yourself.
Not a word from you—what on earth have I done? To think only of you, to love only Josephine, to live only for my wife, to enjoy happiness only with my dear one—does this deserve such harsh treatment from her? My dear, I beg you, think often of me, and write me every day.
You are ill, or else you do not love me! Do you think, then, that I have a heart of stone? and do my sufferings concern you so little? You must know me very ill! I cannot believe it! You to whom nature has given intelligence, tenderness, and beauty, you who alone can rule my heart, you who doubtless know only too well the unlimited power you hold over me!
Write to me, think of me, and love me.—Yours ever, for life.
Bonaparte.
March 16th.—Bonaparte defeats Archduke Charles on the Tagliamento.
March 25th.—Bonaparte writes the Directory from Goritz that "up till now Prince Charles has manœuvred worse than Beaulieu and Wurmser."
March 29th.—Klagenfurt taken by Massena.
April 1st.—Laybach by Bernadotte.
April 17th.—Preliminaries of peace at Leoben signed by Bonaparte.
April 18th.—Hoche crosses the Rhine at Neuwied.
April 21st.—Moreau at Kehl.
April 23rd.—Armistice of two Rhine armies follows preliminaries of Leoben.
May 16th.—Augereau enters Venice.
June 28th.—French capture Corfu, and 600 guns.
July 8th.—Death of Edmund Burke, aged sixty-eight.
July 18th.—Talleyrand becomes French Minister of Foreign Affairs.
September 4th.—Day of 18th Fructidor at Paris. Coup d'État of Rewbell, Larévellière-Lépeaux, and Barras, secretly aided by Bonaparte, who has sent them Augereau to command Paris.
September 18th.—Death of Lazare Hoche, aged twenty-nine, probably poisoned by the Directory, which has recalled Moreau, retired Bernadotte, and will soon launch Bonaparte on the seas, so that he may find failure and Bantry Bay at Aboukir (Montgaillard).
September 30th.—National bankruptcy admitted in France, the sixth time in two centuries.
October 17th.—-Treaty of Campo-Formio; Bonaparte called thereupon by Talleyrand "General Pacificator."
November 16th.—Death of Frederick William II., King of Prussia, aged fifty-three; succeeded by his son, Frederick William III., aged twenty-seven.
December 1st.—Bonaparte Minister Plenipotentiary at Congress of Rastadt, and
December 5th.—Arrives at Paris.
December 10th.—Bonaparte presented to the Directory by Talleyrand.
December 27th.—Riots at Rome: Joseph Bonaparte (ambassador) insulted; General Duphot (engaged to Joseph's sister-in-law, Desirée) killed.
