Napoleon's Letters To Josephine Part 14

_Milan._

I am at Milan, with a very bad cold. I can't stand rain, and I have been wet to the skin for several hours, but all goes well. I don't persuade you to come here. I shall be home in a month. I trust to find you flouris.h.i.+ng. I am just starting for Pavia and Stradella. We are masters of Brescia, Cremona, and Placentia.

Kindest regards. Murat has borne himself splendidly.

_June 5th._--Ma.s.sena gives up Genoa, but leaves with all the honours of war.

_June 7th._--Lannes takes Pavia, 350 cannon, and 10,000 muskets.

_June 9th.--Battle of Montebello. Bonaparte defeats Austrians, who lose 8000 men._

_June 14th.--Bonaparte wins Marengo, but loses Desaix--"the man I loved and esteemed the most." In his bulletin he admits the battle at one time was lost, until he cried to his troops "Children, remember it is my custom to sleep upon the battlefield." He mentions the charges of Desaix and Kellermann, and especially eulogises the latter--a fact interesting on account of the false statements made of his ignoring it. In the bulletin of June 21st he blames the "punic faith" of Lord Keith at Genoa, a criticism the Admiral repaid with usury fifteen years later._

_June 14th._--a.s.sa.s.sination of Kleber, in Egypt.

_June 16th.--Convention of Alessandria between Bonaparte and Melas; end of the "Campaign of Thirty Days."_

_June 19th._--Moreau defeats Kray at Hochstedt, and occupies Ulm.

_June 23rd._--Genoa re-entered by the French.

_June 26th.--Bonaparte leaves Ma.s.sena in command of the Army of Reserve, now united with the Army of Italy._

_July 3rd.--The First Consul is back in Paris unexpectedly--not wis.h.i.+ng triumphal arches or such-like "colifichets" In spite of which the plaudits he receives are very dear to him, "sweet as the voice of Josephine."_

_September 5th._--Vaubois surrenders Malta to the English, after two years' blockade.

_September 15th._--Armistice between France and Austria in Germany.

_September 30th._--Treaty of Friends.h.i.+p and Commerce between France and U.S.--agreed that the flag covers the goods.

_October 3rd._--To facilitate peace King George renounces his t.i.tle of King of France.

_November 12th._--Rupture of Armistice between France and Austria.

_December 3rd._--Moreau wins the battle of Hohenlinden (Austrian loss, 16,000 men, 80 guns; French 3000).

_December 20th._--Moreau occupies Lintz (100 miles from Vienna).

_December 24th.--Royalist conspirators fail to kill Bonaparte with an infernal machine._

_December 25th._--Armistice at Steyer between Moreau and Archduke Charles (sent for by the Austrians a fortnight before as their last hope).

FOOTNOTES

[16] Bonaparte's courier.

[17] The date of this letter is May 29, 1800. See Notes.

SERIES D

"The peace of Amiens had always been regarded from the side of England as an armed truce: on the side of Napoleon it had a very different character.... A careful reader must admit that we were guilty of a breach of faith in not surrendering Malta. The promise of its surrender was the princ.i.p.al article of the treaty."

_England and Napoleon in 1803._

(Edited for the R. Hist. S. by Oscar Browning, 1887.)

SERIES D

(For subjoined Notes to this Series see pages 225-231.)

LETTER PAGE Date 225

No. 1. _The blister_ 225 _Some plants_ 225 _If the weather is as bad_ 226 _Malmaison, without you_ 228

No. 2. _The fat Eugene_ 228

No. 3. _Your letter has come_ 229 _Injured whilst shooting a boar_ 229 "_The Barber of Seville_" 229

No. 4. _The Sevres Manufactory_ 230

No. 5. _Your lover, who is tired of being alone_ 230 _General Ney_ 231

JOSEPHINE'S TWO VISITS TO PLOMBIeRES,

1801 AND 1802.

EVENTS OF 1801.

_January 1st._--Legislative Union of Great Britain and Ireland.

_January 3rd._--French under Brune occupy Verona, and

_January 8th._--Vicenza.