"This year offers a strange picture. The Emperor Napoleon was at Venice in the month of January, surrounded by the homage of all the courts and princes of Italy; in the month of April he was at Bayonne, surrounded by that of Spain, and the great personages of that country; and, finally, in the month of October he is at Erfurth, with his _parterre_ of kings."--_Mémoires du Duc de Rovigo._
* * * * *
_January 27th.--Queen and Prince Regent of Portugal reach Rio de Janeiro._
_February 2nd.--French troops enter Rome._
_February 17th.--French occupy Pampeluna, and_
_February 29th.--Barcelona._
_March 19th.--Charles IV. abdicates, and his son proclaimed Ferdinand VII._
_March 20th.--Godoy imprisoned by Ferdinand._
_March 23rd.--Murat enters Madrid._
_March 27th.--Napoleon excommunicated._
_April 15th.--Napoleon arrives at Bayonne._
No. 1.
TO THE EMPRESS, AT BORDEAUX.
_Bayonne, April 16, 1808._
I have arrived here in good health, rather tired by a dull journey and a very bad road.
I am very glad you stayed behind, for the houses here are wretched and very small.
I go to-day into a small house in the country, about a mile from the town.
Adieu, dear. Take care of yourself.
No. 2.
TO THE EMPRESS, AT BORDEAUX.
_Bayonne, April 17, 1808._
I have just received yours of April 15th. What you tell me of the owner of the country-house pleases me. Go and spend the day there sometimes.
I am sending an order for you to have 20,000 francs per month additional while I am away, counting from the 1st of April.
I am lodged atrociously. I am leaving this place in an hour, to occupy a country-house (_bastide_) about a mile away. The Infant Don Carlos and five or six Spanish grandees are here, the Prince of the Asturias fifty miles away. King Charles and the Queen are due. I know not how I shall lodge all these people. Everything here is still most primitive (_à l'auberge_). The health of my troops in Spain is good.
It took me some time to understand your little jokes; I have laughed at your recollections. O you women, what memories you have!
My health is fairly good, and I love you most affectionately. I wish you to give my kind regards to everybody at Bordeaux; I have been too busy to send them to anybody.
NAPOLEON.
* * * * *
_April 20th.--Ferdinand arrives at Bayonne._
No. 3.
TO THE EMPRESS, AT BORDEAUX.
_April 21, 1808._
I have just received your letter of April 19th. Yesterday I had the Prince of the Asturias and his suite to dinner, which occasioned me considerable embarrassment. I am waiting for Charles IV. and the Queen.
My health is good. I am now sufficiently recovered for the campaign.
Adieu, dear. Your letters always give me much pleasure.
NAPOLEON.
No. 4.
TO THE EMPRESS, AT BORDEAUX.
_Bayonne, April 23, 1808._
_My Dear_,--A son has been born to Hortense;[28] I am highly delighted. I am not surprised that you tell me nothing of it, since your letter is dated the 21st, and the child was only born on the 20th,[29] during the night.
You can start on the 26th, sleep at Mont de Marsan, and arrive here on the 27th. Have your best dinner-service sent on here on the 25th, in the evening. I have made arrangements for you to have a little house in the country, next to the one I have. My health is good.
I am waiting for Charles IV. and his wife.
Adieu, dear.
NAPOLEON.
* * * * *
_April 30th.--Charles IV. and the Queen arrive at Bayonne._
_May 1st.--Ferdinand gives back the crown to his father._
_May 2nd.--Murat subdues insurrection at Madrid._
_May 5th.--Treaty of Bayonne; Charles IV. and Ferdinand (May 6) surrender to Napoleon their rights to the Spanish crown._
_May 13th.--Spanish Junta ask for Joseph Bonaparte to be their king._
_June 6th.--King Joseph proclaimed King of Spain and the Indies by Napoleon, in an imperial decree, dated Bayonne._
_June 7th.--French, under Dupont, sacked Cordova._
_June 9th.--Emperor of Austria calls out his militia._
_June 15th.--French fleet at Cadiz surrender to the Spanish._
_July 4th.--English cease hostilities with Spain, and recognise Ferdinand VII._
_July 7th.--Spanish new constitution sworn to by Joseph and by the Junta._
_July 9th.--Commences the siege of Saragossa._
_July 14th.--Bessières defeats 40,000 Spaniards at Medina de Rio Seco._
_July 15th.--Murat declared King of Naples._
_July 20th.--Joseph enters Madrid._ Mahmoud deposed by his younger brother at Constantinople.
_July 22nd.--Dupont capitulates at Baylen--"the only stain on French arms for twenty years (1792-1812)."_--Montgaillard.
_July 30th.--French protest against Austrian armaments._
_August 1st.--Wellington landed in Portugal._
_August 21st.--Battle of Vimiera, creditable to Junot._
_August 25th.--Spanish troops reoccupy Madrid._
_August 30th.--Convention of Cintra. French only hold Barcelona, Biscay, Navarre, and Alava, in the whole of Spain._
_September 8th.--Convention of Paris (Prussia and France); Prussian army not to exceed 40,000 men._
FOOTNOTES
[28] Charles Louis Napoleon, afterwards Napoleon III.
[29] At 17 Rue Lafitte.
SERIES J
"When he shows as seeking quarter, with paws like hands in prayer, _That_ is the time of peril--the time of the truce of the Bear!"
--KIPLING.
SERIES J
(For subjoined Notes to this Series see pages 269-273.)
LETTER PAGE
No. 1. _I have rather a cold_ 270 _I am pleased with the Emperor_ 270
No. 2. _Shooting over the battlefield of Jena_ 271 _The Weimar ball_ 271 _A few trifling ailments_ 271
No. 3. _I am pleased with Alexander_ 272 _He ought to be with me_ 272 _Erfurt_ 273
LETTERS OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON TO THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE DURING HIS STAY AT ERFURT, 1808.
No. 1.
TO THE EMPRESS, AT ST. CLOUD.
_Erfurt, September 29, 1808._
I have rather a cold. I have received your letter, dated Malmaison. I am well pleased with the Emperor and every one here.
It is an hour after midnight, and I am tired.
Adieu, dear; take care of yourself.
NAPOLEON.
No. 2.
TO THE EMPRESS, AT ST. CLOUD.
_October 9, 1808._
_My Dear_,--I have received your letter. I note with pleasure that you are well. I have just been shooting over the battlefield of Jena. We had breakfast (_déjeuné_) at the spot where I bivouacked on the night of the battle.
I assisted at the Weimar ball. The Emperor Alexander dances; but not I. Forty years are forty years.
My health is really sound, in spite of a few trifling ailments.
Adieu, dear; I hope to see you soon.--Yours ever,
NAPOLEON.
No. 3.
TO THE EMPRESS, AT ST. CLOUD.
_My Dear_,--I write you seldom; I am very busy. Conversations which last whole days, and which do not improve my cold. Still all goes well. I am pleased with Alexander; he ought to be with me. If he were a woman, I think I should make him my sweetheart.
I shall be back to you shortly; keep well and let me find you plump and rosy.
Adieu, dear.
NAPOLEON.
SERIES K
"The winter campaign commenced on the 1st of November 1808, and terminated on the 1st of March 1809, to the advantage of the French, who, for that reason, denominate it the _Imperial Campaign_. The Spaniards were long before they could recover from the terror caused by the defeat of their armies, the capture of Madrid, the surrender of Saragossa, and the departure of the English from Corunna."--_Sarrazin's History of the War in Spain and Portugal_, 1815.
SERIES K
(For subjoined Notes to this Series see pages 273-278.)
LETTER PAGE
No. 5. Aranda 273
No. 6. Madrid 273 _Parisian weather_ 273
No. 8. _Kourakin_ 274
No. 9. _The English_ appear to have received reinforcements 274
No. 10. _Benavente_ 274 _The English flee panic-stricken_ 274 _The weather_ 274 _Lefebvre_ 275
No. 11. _Your letters_ 275-6
No. 12. _The English are in utter rout_ 276
Nos. 13 & 14. Valladolid 277 _Eugène has a daughter_ 277 _They are foolish in Paris_ 277
LETTERS OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON TO THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE DURING THE SPANISH CAMPAIGN, 1808 AND 1809.
_October 29th.--English enter Spain._
_October 31st.--Blake defeated by Lefebvre at Tornosa._
No. 1.
TO THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.
_November 3, 1808._
I arrived to-night[30] with considerable trouble. I had ridden several stages at full speed. Still, I am well.