Worlds Best Histories France Vol 7 by M. Guizot and Madame Guizot De Witt

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Walcheren was slightly and badly fortified; the emperor considering
Flushing to be quite impregnable. "You say that the bombardment of
Flushing makes you apprehensive of its surrender," he wrote on the 22nd
August. "You are wrong to have any such fear. Flushing is impregnable so
long as there is bread in it, and they have enough for six months.
Flushing is impregnable, because there is a moat full of water, which must
be crossed; and finally, because by cutting the dykes they can inundate
the whole island. Write and tell everywhere that Flushing cannot be taken,
unless by the cowardice of the commandants; and also that I am certain of
it, and that the English will go off without having it. The bombs are
nothing--absolutely nothing; they will destroy a few houses, but that has
no effect upon the surrender of a place."

General Monnet, who commanded at Flushing, was an old officer of the
revolution wars, brave and daring and he did his best in opposing the
landing of the English, with a part of his forces, and in gallantly
defending the place; but the inundation did not succeed, on account of the
elevation of the ground and the wind being contrary. Therefore when
Napoleon wrote to Fouche, Flushing had already capitulated, under the
efforts of the most formidable siege artillery. The Dutch commandant
surrendered the forts Denhaak and Terwecre at the same time as Middelburg.
The feeling of the Dutch nation, formerly favorable to republican France,
had been modified since the imperial decrees ruined all the transit trade,
the source of Holland's wealth. King Louis alone hastened to the
assistance of the French army, advancing with his little army between
Santvliet and Antwerp. Four Dutch regiments were fighting in Germany, and
a small corps had been sent into Spain. Thus, while extending his
enterprises in remote parts, the unbounded ambition of Napoleon left
unprotected the very centre of his empire.

General Rousseau, however, succeeded in protecting the island of Cadsand,
and Admiral Strachan and Lord Chatham recalled to the eastern Scheldt the
forces which had been intended for the attack on that island. The English
forces began to land upon the islands of North and South Beveland, in
order to attack Fort Batz at the junction of the two Scheldts, and thus
outflank the French fleet lying in the western Scheldt. Fortunately,
Admiral Missiessy had the advantage over the English commanders in speed,
and sailing up into the higher Scheldt, formed by the two branches of the
river, he arranged his vessels under forts Lillo and Liefkenshoek which by
their cross-fires protected the river from bank to bank. Antwerp was thus
safe from attack by sea; at Paris there was great anxiety as to attacks by
land.

A few provisional demi-brigades, the gendarmes, and picked national
guards, about 30,000 men altogether--such were the forces at the disposal
of the war minister. He durst not--nobody durst, change the destination of
the troops already marching to Germany. The minister of marine and Fouche
at once proposed a general levy of the national guard, under the orders of
Bernadotte--one being daring and dissatisfied, the other fostering
discontent of every kind openly or secretly, and still remembering the
revolutionary procedure. The Council, presided over by the Arch-chancellor
Cambaceres, refused to authorize the calling out of the national guards
without the emperor's express order; but Fouche, without waiting for
orders, wrote on his own authority to all the prefects, and stirred up
everywhere a patriotic zeal. At first Napoleon approved of the ardor of
his minister of police, and severely rated the arch-chancellor and
minister of war for their prudence. "I cannot conceive what you are about
in Paris," he wrote to General Clarke on the 10th August; "you must be
waiting for the English to come and take you in your beds. When 25,000
English are attacking our dockyards and threatening our provinces, is the
ministry doing nothing? What trouble is there in raising 60,000 of the
national guard? What trouble is there in sending the Prince of Pontecorvo
to take the command there, where there is nobody? What trouble is there in
putting my strongholds, Antwerp, Ostend, and Lille, in a state of siege?
It is inconceivable. There is none but Fouche who appears to me to have
done what he could, and to have felt the inconvenience of remaining in a
dangerous and dishonorable position:--dangerous, because the English,
seeing that France is not in movement, and that no impulse is given to
public opinion, will have nothing to fear, and will not hurry to leave our
territory; dishonorable, because it shows fear of opinion, and allows
25,000 English to burn our dockyards without defending them. The slur thus
cast upon France is a perpetual disgrace. Circumstances vary from moment
to moment. It is impossible for me to give orders to arrive within a
fortnight. The ministers have the same power as I, since they can hold a
council and pass decisions. Make use of the Prince of Pontecorvo--make use
of General Moncey. I send you besides Marshal Bessieres, to remain in
Paris in reserve. I have ordered a levy of 30,000 men of the national
guard. If the English make progress, make a second levy of 30,000 in the
same or other departments. It is evident that the enemy, feeling the
difficulty of taking Flushing, intend marching straight to Antwerp, to
make a sudden attempt upon the squadron."

Flushing had succumbed, but the operations of the English were delayed by
their indecisive generalship. Hope's division easily took possession of
Fort Batz, but the main body of the army remained behind. The
fortifications of Antwerp were daily increased and strengthened. The
engineers, under Decaux, who checked the warlike ardor of King Louis,
rendered the forts impregnable to sudden assault, inundated the country
all round, and erected the old dams on the Scheldt; and troops also began
to arrive, rapidly concentrating upon the threatened spot. According to
the emperor's order the Prince of Pontecorvo had set out for Antwerp, and
took the command there. While the army was being formed round the town,
the English with great difficulty got their fleet into the Scheldt as far
as Fort Batz. Their forces being already considerably reduced by the
fever, and the preparations made at Antwerp to receive them causing Lord
Chatham some uneasiness, he held a council of war on the 26th, and sent
their decision to London, where it was approved by the ministry. It was
too late now to attack Antwerp, the opportunity having been lost; and the
huge army, collected with so much display, fell back upon the island of
Walcheren, and a large number of the vessels sailed for the Downs. Every
day 800 casks of fresh water were brought from the Downs to the garrison
still occupying Flushing, Middelburg, and the forts. The English were
completely checked; and there were already signs that they might evacuate
the island of Walcheren altogether.

The emperor triumphed at Schoenbrunn. Advising his generals not to attack
the English, but to leave them to be killed by ague, he congratulated
himself on the unexpected reinforcement thus gained by his army. "It is a
continuation of the good fortune attending our present circumstances," he
wrote, "that this expedition, which has reduced to nothing England's
greatest effort, gives us an army of 24,000 men, which otherwise we should
have been unable to get." He at once made use of it to organize the new
army of the north, suddenly called out by the country's danger. At the
same time, by a strong instinct of government, he severely blamed the
revolutionary movement which Fouche had excited in the departments. On the
26th September he wrote to him: "I have your letter informing me that the
'cadres' of the regiment for the national guard are formed everywhere. I
know it, but am not pleased at it. Such a measure cannot be taken without
my order. There has been too great haste; all that has been done will not
hasten by a single hour the arming of the national guard, if they are
needed. That causes fermentation, whereas it would have been sufficient to
put in movement the national guards of the military divisions which I have
indicated. Then you call out the national guards of Flanders to assist on
the frontiers by which the enemy intend invading Flanders; the reason is
obvious. But when there is a levy in Languedoc, Piedmont, Burgundy, people
think there is an agitation, though there is none. My intentions are not
fulfilled, and I am put to unnecessary expense."

The command, accordingly, was withdrawing from the Prince of Pontecorvo,
who, though always called to serve at the moment of danger, was considered
fickle and suspicious by the emperor. "You will let him know," wrote
Napoleon to his minister of war, "that I am displeased with his 'order of
the day;' that it is not true that he had only 15,000 men, when, with the
soldiers of the Duke of Conegliano and Istria, I have on the Scheldt more
than 60,000 men; but that even if he only had 15,000, his duty was to give
the enemy no hint of it. It is the first time that a general, from excess
of vanity, has been seen to betray the secret of his position. He at the
same time eulogized the national guards, who know very well themselves
that they have had no opportunity of doing anything. You will also express
to him my dissatisfaction with his Paris correspondence, and insist upon
his ceasing to receive mischievous letters from the wretches whom he
encourages by such conduct. The third point as to which you will indicate
to him my intentions is, that he should go to the army or to the waters."

The useless attempt of the English at Walcheren, and their prudent retreat
from Antwerp, was made use of by the French diplomatists who were still
discussing the terms of peace at Altenburg. The Emperor Napoleon, however,
was tired of the delays of their negotiations. Being now certain that
Austria could have no more support, he received Bubna and Prince John of
Lichtenstein, who had been sent to him directly by the Emperor Francis.
Napoleon haughtily dwelt upon the value of the concessions which he had
already granted. "What!" said he to the envoys, "I had not yet
relinquished the principle of the _uti possidetis_, and now I relinquish
it at your emperor's request! I claimed 400,000 souls of the population of
Bohemia, now I cease to demand them! I wished 800,000 souls in Upper
Austria, and I am satisfied with 400,000! I asked for 1,400,000 souls in
Carinthia and Carniola, and I give up Klagenfurth, which is a further
sacrifice of 200,000 souls. I therefore restore to your master a
population of a million of subjects, and he says I have made no
concession! I have only kept what is necessary to keep the enemy away from
Passau and the Inn--what is necessary to connect the territories of Italy
and Dalmatia; yet they persuade him that I have not modified any of my
demands! It is thus that they have led on the Emperor Francis to war; it
is thus that they will finally bring him to ruin!" He refrained, however,
from replying to the Emperor Francis's letter. "It were undignified for me
to say to a prince, 'You don't know what you say;' but that is what I find
myself compelled to say, since his letter is founded upon an error."
"Leave vain repetitions and silliness to the Austrians," he wrote to
Champagny. At the same time he reviewed his troops, and hurried the
movements of the reinforcements which were arriving. The Emperor Alexander
had received Austria's promise to make a speedy settlement, refusing to
take part in the negotiations, and trusting that Napoleon would look after
his interests. The only point which he reserved was the Polish question:
he was afraid of the increase of the grand duchy of Warsaw. "Your Majesty
can give me a certain pledge of your friendship towards me," he wrote to
Napoleon on the 31st August, "by recalling what I frequently said at
Tilsit and Erfurt, as to the interests of Russia with reference to the
affairs of Poland (lately so-called), and what I have since instructed
your ambassador to repeat to you."

It was precisely upon Galicia that the ambitious views of Napoleon were at
that moment directed. Being repeatedly pressed by the Austrian envoys to
explain his definitive intentions, he at last declared that he wished
Carniola, the circle of Wilbach, and the right bank of the Save as far as
Bosnia; ceding Linz, and keeping Salzburg. He thus became master of
1,500,000 souls in Austria. In Galicia he claimed all the territory which
Austria had obtained at the second partition of Poland, as well as the
circles of Solkiew and Zeloczow, which he intended to cede to Russia, in
order to restrain her displeasure. The population of these territories
amounted to 2,000,000 souls. To these conditions Napoleon added a war
contribution of 100,000,000, and the obligation of Austria reducing her
army to 150,000 men. The Austrian diplomatists succeeded in getting off
15,000,000 from the military contribution. That was the only favor
granted. "I have given Austria the most advantageous peace she could
expect," wrote Napoleon to the Emperor Alexander, on the 10th October,
1809. "She only cedes Salzburg and a small district on the Inn; she cedes
nothing in Bohemia; and on the Italian side she only cedes what is
indispensable to me for communication with Dalmatia. The monarchy
therefore remains entire. It is a second experiment which I wished to
make, and I have shown towards her a moderation which she had no right to
expect. In doing so I trust to have pleased your Majesty. You will see
that, in accordance with your desires, the greater part of Galicia does
not change masters, and that I have been as careful of your interests as
you could have been yourself, by reconciling everything with what honor
demands from me. For the prosperity and well-being of the duchy of Warsaw,
it is necessary that it should be in your Majesty's good graces; and the
subjects of your Majesty may be assured that in no case, on no
contingency, ought they to expect any protection from me."

So many protestations and flattering assurances could not destroy the
effect of the development of the grand duchy of Warsaw, and the constant
menace created for Russia by that partial resuscitation of a Poland
submitted to French influence. The Emperor Alexander made Caulaincourt
sensible of this by a few sharp words. The secret discord was now
increasing between the two allies, in proportion as the divergence of
their interests made itself felt. The unreasonable passions of Napoleon
were soon to open between them the gulf into which he was to drag France.

The Tyrol was not included in the negotiations of peace, any more than in
the armistice. When at last the treaty was signed at Vienna, on the 20th
October, a few days after the discovery of a plot to assassinate Napoleon,
the fighting was still continued in the mountains with the keen
determination of despair. In vain did Prince Eugene offer the insurgents a
general pardon, confirming the subservience of their country; the peasants
proudly rejected the conditions offered them. Crushed by the combined
French and Bavarian forces, the Tyrolese succumbed with glory: their
popular leader, Andrew Hofer, was taken in a remote mountain retreat where
he had taken refuge, brought to Mantua on the 19th January, 1810, and
there shot on the 25th February, by Napoleon's express order. "I gave you
instructions to have Hofer brought to Paris," wrote Napoleon to the
Viceroy of Italy; "but since he is at Mantua, send an order to have him
tried at once by court-martial, and shot on the spot. Let it be an affair
of twenty-four hours." Hofer underwent his fate with an heroic and pious
simplicity. It was only in 1824 that Austria paid to this humble patriot
the honors due to his memory, his body being then transported to
Innsbruck, and buried there with pomp in the cathedral. A statue was
placed on his tomb.

CHAPTER XII.

THE DIVORCE (1809-1810).

On his return to France, after the peace of Vienna, the Emperor Napoleon,
though triumphant and all-powerful to those who looked only on the
surface, felt secretly conscious that his supreme prestige had been
shaken. He experienced the necessity of strengthening and consolidating
his conquests by some startling act, and of finally founding upon
immovable bases that empire which he had raised by his victorious hands
without ever believing it really permanent. The advances made at Erfurt
towards a family alliance with the Emperor of Russia remained without any
result, in spite of the friendly protestations of the Emperor Alexander;
and since Napoleon's return to Paris those admitted to his closest
intimacy detected a perceptible change in his manner. "He seemed to be
walking in the midst of his glory," wrote the Arch-chancellor Cambaceres.
It was to him that Napoleon first broached the project of divorce, which
was soon to become a settled determination. The loving tone in which he
wrote to her as his wife might well deceive the Empress Josephine; for
Napoleon still retained some love for her, though it was powerless in
hindering his ambitious resolutions. The rumor of the great event was
already spreading in Paris and Europe, though Josephine was still unaware
of it. She was uneasy, however, and numerous indications daily increased
her anxiety: her children shared her apprehension. The whole of the
imperial family were assembled about their renowned head, divided as they
were in their inclinations and interests; and Napoleon had himself
summoned Prince Eugene to Paris.

Under the emperor's order, Champagny had already written to Caulaincourt:
"You will wait upon the Emperor Alexander, and speak to him in these
terms: 'Sire, I have reason to believe that the emperor, at the request of
the whole of France, is making arrangements for a divorce. May I write to
say that they can reckon on your sister? Let your Majesty take two days to
consider it, and give me frankly your reply, not as French ambassador, but
as a man warmly devoted to both families. It is not a formal request that
I now make; it is a confidential expression of your intentions that I beg
from you. I am too much accustomed to tell your Majesty all my thoughts to
be afraid of ever being compromised by you.'"

Caulaincourt was greatly perplexed. The peace of Vienna had been badly
received at St. Petersburg, and had caused so many complaints and
recriminations that the French ambassador found himself compelled to
appease the irritation which threatened to break the alliance, by
translating Napoleon's promises into official engagements. The terms of
the convention were agreed upon by the diplomatists, and it was about to
be signed. Napoleon engaged never to re-establish the kingdom of Poland;
the names Poland and Polish were to disappear in all the acts; the grand
duchy could not for the future be increased by annexing any part of the
old Polish monarchy: the conditions of the convention were binding upon
the King of Saxony, Grand Duke of Warsaw. At the same time that he was
begged to accept this unsuitable engagement, Napoleon had harshly reminded
his ally of the inaction of his forces during the war. "I wish," said he,
"that in the discussions which take place, the Duke of Vicentia should
make the following remarks to Romanzoff: 'You are sensible that there is
nothing of the past that the emperor has laid hold of: in the affairs of
Austria you made no sign. How has the emperor acted? He has given you a
province which more than repays all the expense you have incurred for the
war; and openly declares that you have joined to your empire Finland,
Moldavia, and Wallachia.'"

However delicate the circumstances and question were which Caulaincourt
had to propose, he obeyed. The Emperor Alexander was not disinclined to
listen to the proposals, but would have preferred first to make sure of
the signature to the convention relative to Poland as the price of his
acceptance. The empress mother, dissatisfied and spiteful, suggested
religious objections. The kind considerations of Napoleon seemed
boundless. The Emperor Alexander and his advisers asked time to consider.

Meantime the projected divorce had become known in Paris, even in the
bosom of the imperial family. Napoleon could not longer keep his secret.
In presence of the vague uneasiness of the empress his mind was burdened
with some feeling of remorse for the act which he was secretly meditating,
and he at last gave her some hint of his intention, as well as of the
reasons for his decision, and the pain it had caused him. The unhappy
Josephine screamed, and fell fainting. When she recovered consciousness,
she was supported by her daughter the Queen of Holland, who was also in
tears, and proudly offended at the harshness which Napoleon had shown her
in the first moment of his anger at the sight of Josephine's sufferings.
Soon moved by the return of better and truer sentiments which still
exercised a certain influence upon him, the emperor shared the sorrows of
the mother and daughter, without for a moment relaxing by word or thought
the determination which he had formed. Prince Eugene, as well as Queen
Hortense, had declared their intentions of following their mother in her
retirement; Napoleon opposed it, and overwhelmed with presents and favors
the wife whom he was forsaking for reasons of state. Two days after
solemnly breaking the tie by which they were united, he wrote to her at
Malmaison, with much genuine affection in spite of his strange and
imperious style:--"My dear, you seem to me to-day weaker than you ought to
be. You showed courage, and you will do so again in order to support
yourself. You must not let yourself sink into a fatal melancholy. You must
be happy, and, before everything, take care of your health, which is so
precious to me. If you are fond of me and love me, you ought to show some
energy, and make yourself happy. You understand my sentiments towards you
very imperfectly, if you imagine that I can be happy when you are not so,
and satisfied when you are still anxious. Good-bye, darling; pleasant
dreams! Be assured that I am sincere."

The Empress Josephine had often shown a fickle character and frivolous
mind; but being kind, obliging, and gifted with a grace that had gained
her many friends before her greatness had surrounded her with courtiers
and flatterers, she was popular; and the public, who were not in favor of
the divorce, sympathized with her sorrow. On the 15th December, 1809, in a
formally summoned meeting of the imperial family, with the arch-chancellor
and Count Regnault d'Angely also present, Napoleon himself openly
announced the resolution which he had taken. "The policy of my monarchy,
the interest and wants of my peoples which have invariably guided all my
actions, require," said he, "that I should leave this throne on which
Providence has placed me, to children inheriting my love for my peoples.
For several years, however, I have lost hopes of having children by my
marriage with my well-beloved spouse the Empress Josephine, which urges me
to sacrifice the dearest affections of my heart, to consider only the
well-being of the State, and to will the dissolution of our marriage. God
knows how much such a resolution has cost my heart; but there is no
sacrifice which is beyond my courage, if proved to be useful to the well-
being of France."

The Empress Josephine wished to speak, but her voice was choked by her
tears; she handed to Count Regnault the paper evidencing her assent to the
emperor's wishes. A few words spoken by Prince Eugene, as he took his
place in the Senate, confirmed the sacrifice; and by a "senatus-consulte"
the civil marriage was formally dissolved. The religious marriage gave
rise to greater difficulty. The absence of the proper cure and of the
witnesses required by the rules of the Church served as a pretext, in
spite of the protestations of Cardinal Fesch, who had celebrated the
marriage, and declared that the Pope had granted him full dispensation.
There was no intention of consulting the pontiff on this occasion. The
emperor sent an address to the magistracy of Paris, like the meanest of
his subjects, declaring that his consent had not been complete; he had
only agreed to a useless formality with the object of tranquillising the
conscience of the empress and that of the holy father, feeling certain
since then that he must have recourse to a divorce. The scruples of the
ecclesiastics were overcome; and the religious marriage declared null by
the diocesan and metropolitan authorities. The news was inserted in the
Moniteur, together with the decree settling upon the repudiated empress a
magnificent dowry.

The reply from St. Petersburg, however, was still forthcoming, and the
emperor began to feel very angry. The King of Saxony had already made
overtures, offering the hand of his daughter to his illustrious ally; and
soon still more flattering hopes were aroused. The peace party ruled in
Vienna, Metternich having replaced Stadion in power; and some words of
Swartzenburg, the new ambassador at Paris, seemed to imply matrimonial
advances. The Archduchess Marie-Louise was eighteen years of age, amiable
and gentle in disposition: the alliance was a brilliant one, and would
permanently establish a good understanding between Austria and France.
Many intrigues were now started: those of the politicians or courtiers who
held to the old regime by tradition or taste were in favor of the Austrian
marriage; they were supported by Prince Eugene, Queen Hortense, and even
by the Empress Josephine herself, though not avowedly. The imperial family
and councillors, sprung from the French Revolution, had a repugnance to
alliance with the house of Austria, as a return towards the past, which
was still present to the minds of all: they dwelt upon the dangers of a
rupture with Russia, who would be indignant at seeing herself scorned
after being sought for. There were fewer objections on the side of
Austria, already beaten and humiliated. The emperor hesitated, and twice
consulted his most intimate council. At the second sitting his mind was
made up. The delay of Russia had stirred up his anger, and, according to
his custom, he listened only to his haughty and implacable will. Orders
were given to Caulaincourt to overthrow the negotiations respecting the
Grand Duchess Catherine. Marriage with the Archduchess Marie-Louise was
resolved upon.