Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History BookOpen Original Text st 30th he is again at Brescia, and reminds her that he
left her "vexed, annoyed, and not well." From a letter to her aunt,
Madame de Renaudin, at this time, quoted by Aubenas, we can see her
real feelings: "I am feted wherever I go; all the princes of Italy
give me fetes, even the Grand Duke of Tuscany, brother of the Emperor.
Ah, well, I prefer being a private individual in France. I care not
for honours bestowed in this country. I get sadly bored. My health has
undoubtedly a great deal to do with making me unhappy; I am often out
of sorts. If happiness could assure health, I ought to be in the best
of health. I have the most amiable husband imaginable. I have no time
to long for anything. My wishes are his. He is all day long in
adoration before me, as if I were a divinity; there could not possibly
be a better husband. M. Serbelloni will tell you how he loves me. He
often writes to my children; he loves them dearly. He is sending
Hortense, by M. Serbelloni, a lovely repeater, jewelled and enamelled;
to Eugene a splendid gold watch."
No. 9.
"_I hope we shall get into Trent by the 5th._"--He entered the city on
that day. In his pursuit of Wurmser, he and his army cover sixty miles
in two days, through the terrific Val Saguna and Brenta gorges,
brushing aside opposition by the way.
No. 12.
"_One of these nights the doors will be burst open with a
bang._"--Apparently within two or three days, for Bonaparte is at
Milan on September 21st, and stays with his wife till October 12th.
On October 1st he writes to the Directory that his total forces are
only 27,900; and that the Austrians, within six weeks, will have
50,000. He asks for 26,000 more men to end the war satisfactorily: "If
the preservation of Italy is dear to you, citizen directors, send me
help." On the 8th they reply with the promise of 10,000 to 12,000, to
which he replies (October 11th) that if 10,000 have started only 5000
will reach him. The Directory at this time are very poverty stricken,
and ask him once more to pay Kellermann's Army of the Alps, as being
"to some extent part of that which you command." This must have been
"nuts and wine" for the general who was to have been superseded by
Kellermann a few months earlier. On October 1st they advise him that
Wurmser's name is on the list of emigrants, and that if the Marshal
will surrender Mantua at once he need not be sent to Paris for trial.
If, however, Bonaparte thinks that this knowledge will make the old
Marshal more desperate, he is not to be told. Bonaparte, of course,
does not send the message. For some time these letters had been signed
by the President Lareveillere Lepeaux, but on September 19th there was
a charming letter from Carnot: "Although accustomed to unprecedented
deeds on your part, our hopes have been surpassed by the victory of
Bassano. What glory is yours, immortal Bonaparte! Moreau was about to
effect a juncture with you when that wretched _reculade_ of Jourdan
upset all our plans. Do not forget that immediately the armies go into
winter quarters on the Rhine the Austrians will have forces available
to help Wurmser." At Milan Bonaparte advises the Directory that he is
dealing with unpunished "fripponeries" in the commissariat department.
Here he receives from young Kellermann, afterwards the hero of
Marengo, a _precis_ of the condition of the Brescia fever-hospitals,
dated October 6th: "A wretched mattress, dirty and full of vermin, a
coarse sheet to each bed, rarely washed, no counterpanes, much
dilatoriness, such is the spectacle that the fever-hospitals of
Brescia present; it is heart-rending. The soldiers justly complain
that, having conquered opulent Italy at the cost of their life-blood,
they might, without enjoying comforts, at least find the help and
attention which their situation demands. Bread and rice are the only
passable foods, but the meat is hard. I beg that the general-in-chief
will immediately give attention to his companions in glory, who wish
for restored health only that they may gather fresh laurels." Thus
Bonaparte had his Bloemfontein, and perhaps his Burdett-Coutts.
On October 12th he tells the Directory that Mantua will not fall till
February--the exact date of its capitulation. One is tempted to wonder
if Napoleon was human enough to have inserted one little paragraph of
his despatch of October 12th from Milan with one eye on its perusal by
his wife, as it contains a veiled sneer at Hoche's exploits: "Send me
rather generals of brigade than generals of division. All that comes
to us from La Vendee is unaccustomed to war on a large scale; we have
the same reproach against the troops, but they are well-hardened." On
the same day he shows them that all the marvels of his six months'
campaign have cost the French Government only L440,000 (eleven million
francs). He pleads, however, for special auditors to have charge of
the accounts. Napoleon had not only made war support war, but had sent
twenty million francs requisitioned in Italy to the Republic. On
October 12th he leaves Milan for Modena, where he remains from the
14th to the 18th, is at Bologna on the 19th, and Ferrara from the 19th
to the 22nd, reaching Verona on the 24th.
Jomini has well pointed out that Napoleon's conception of making two
or three large Italian republics in place of many small ones minimised
the power of the Pope, and also that of Austria, by abolishing its
feudal rigours.
By this time Bonaparte is heartily sick of the war. On October 2nd he
writes direct to the Emperor of Germany: "Europe wants peace. This
disastrous war has lasted too long;" and on the 16th to Marshal
Wurmser: "The siege of Mantua, sir, is more disastrous than two
campaigns." His weariness is tempered with policy, as Alvinzi was _en
route_, and the French reinforcements had not arrived, not even the
10,000 promised in May.
No. 13.
"_Corsica is ours._"--At St. Helena he told his generals, "The King of
England wore the Corsican crown only two years. This whim cost the
British treasury five millions sterling. John Bull's riches could not
have been worse employed." He writes to the Directory on the same day:
"The expulsion of the English from the Mediterranean has considerable
influence on the success of our military operations in Italy. We can
exact more onerous conditions from Naples, which will have the
greatest moral effect on the minds of the Italians, assures our
communications, and makes Naples tremble as far as Sicily." On October
25th he writes: "Wurmser is at his last gasp; he is short of wine,
meat, and forage; he is eating his horses, and has 15,000 sick. In
fifty days Mantua will either be taken or delivered."
No. 14.
_Verona._--Bonaparte had made a long stay at Verona, to November 4th,
waiting reinforcements which never came. On November 5th he writes to
the Directory: "All the troops of the Directory arrive post-haste at
an alarming rate, and we--we are left to ourselves. Fine promises and
a few driblets of men are all we have received;" and o Previous Next |