trouble with the pope—the conscription—evasions of the blockade—the tilsit agreement broken
“this child in concert with our eugène will constitute our happiness and that of france,” so napoleon had written josephine after the birth of the king of rome, but it soon became evident that he was wrong. there were causes of uneasiness and discontent in france which had been operating for a long time, and which were only aggravated by the apparent solidity that an heir gave to the napoleonic dynasty.
first among these was religious disaffection. towards the end of 1808, being doubtful of the pope’s loyalty, napoleon had sent french troops to rome; the spring following, without any plausible excuse, he had annexed four papal states to the kingdom of italy; and in 1809 the pope had been made a prisoner at savona. when the divorce was asked, it was not the pope, but the clergy, of paris, who had granted it. when the religious marriage of marie louise and napoleon came to be celebrated, thirteen cardinals refused to appear; the “black cardinals” they were thereafter called, one of their punishments for non-appearance at the wedding being that they could no longer wear their red gowns. to the pious all this friction with the fathers of the church was a deplorable irritation. it was impossible to show contempt for the authority of pope and cardinals and not wound one of the deepest sentiments of france, and one which ten years before napoleon had braved most to satisfy.
230
napoleon and pope pius vii. in conference at fontainebleau.
engraved by robinson, after a painting made in 1836 by wilkie.
231to the irritation against the emperor’s church policy was added bitter resentment against the conscription, that tax of blood and muscle demanded of the country. napoleon had formulated and attempted to make tolerable the principle born of the revolution, which declared that every male citizen of age owed the state a service of blood in case it needed him. the wisdom of his management of the conscription had prevented discontent until 1807; then the draft on life had begun to be arbitrary and grievous. the laws of exemptions were disregarded. the “only son of his mother” no longer remained at her side. the father whose little children were motherless must leave them; aged and helpless parents no longer gave immunity. those who had bought their exemption by heavy sacrifices were obliged to go. persons whom the law made subject to conscription in 1807, were called out in 1806; those of 1808, in 1807. so far was this premature drafting pushed, that the armies were said to be made up of “boy soldiers,” weak, unformed youths, fresh from school, who wilted in a sun like that of spain, and dropped out in the march.
at the rate at which men had been killed, however, there was no other way of keeping up the army. between 1804 and 1811 one million seven hundred thousand men had perished in battle. what wonder that now the boys of france were pressed into service! at the same time the country was overrun with the lame, the blind, the broken-down, who had come back from war to live on their friends or on charity. it was not only the funeral crape on almost every door which made frenchmen hate the conscription, it was the crippled men whom they met at every corner.
232
the king of rome. 1811.
engraved by desnoyers, after gérard. “his majesty the king of rome. dedicated to her majesty imperial and royal, marie louise.”
233while within, the people fretted over the religious disturbances and the abuses of the conscription, without, the continental blockade was causing serious trouble between napoleon and the kings he ruled. in spite of all his efforts english merchandise penetrated everywhere. the fair at rotterdam in 1807 was filled with english goods. they passed into italy under false seals. they came into france on pretence that they were for the empress. napoleon remonstrated and threatened, but he could not check the traffic. the most serious trouble caused by this violation of the berlin decree was with louis, king of holland. in 1808 napoleon complained to his brother that more than one hundred ships passed between his kingdom and england every month, and a year later he wrote in desperation, “holland is an english province.”
the relations of the brothers grew more and more bitter. napoleon resented the half support louis gave him, and as a punishment he took away his provinces, filled his forts with french troops, threatened him with war if he did not break up the trade. so far did these hostilities go, that in the summer of 1810 king louis abdicated in favor of his son and retired to austria. napoleon tried his best to persuade him at least to return into french territory, but he refused. this break was the sadder because louis was the brother for whom napoleon had really done most.
joseph was not happier than louis. the spanish war still went on, and no better than in 1808. joseph, humbled and unhappy, had even prayed to be freed of the throne.
the relations with sweden were seriously strained. since 1810 bernadotte had been by adoption the crown prince of that country. although he had emphatically refused, in accepting the position, to agree never to take up arms against france, as napoleon wished him to do, he had later consented to the continental blockade, and had declared war against england; but this declaration both england and sweden considered simply as a fa?on de parler. napoleon, conscious that bernadotte was not carrying out the blockade, and irritated by his persistent refusal to enter into french combinations, and pay tribute to carry on french wars, had suppressed his revenues as a french prince—bernadotte had been created prince of ponte-corvo in 1806—had refused to communicate with him, and when the king of rome was born had sent back the swedish decoration offered. finally, in january, 1812, french troops invaded certain swedish possessions, and the country concluded an alliance with england and russia.
234
“napoleon in his cabinet.” the child at his side is his son, the king of rome.
the manuscript on the floor of the cabinet bears the date “1811.” engraved by weber, after steuben.
235with russia, the “other half” of the machine, the ally upon whom the great plan of tilsit and erfurt depended, there was such a bad state of feeling that, in 1811, it became certain that war would result. causes had been accumulating upon each side since the erfurt meeting.
the continental system weighed heavily on the interests of russia. the people constantly rebelled against it and evaded it in every way. the business depressions from which they suffered they charged to napoleon, and a strong party arose in the empire which used every method of showing the czar that the “unnatural alliance,” as they called the agreement between alexander and napoleon, was unpopular. the czar could not refuse to listen to this party. more, he feared that napoleon was getting ready to restore poland. he was offended by the haste with which his ally had dismissed the idea of marriage with his sister and had taken up marie louise. he complained of the changes of boundaries in germany. napoleon, on his part, saw with irritation that english goods were admitted into russia. he resented the failure of alexander to join heartily in the wide-sweeping application he had made of the berlin and milan decrees, and to persecute neutral flags of all nations, even of those so far away from the continent as the united states. he remembered that russia had not supported him loyally in 1809. he was suspicious, too, of the good understanding which seemed to be growing between sweden, russia, and england.
236
the duke of reichstadt.
engraved by w. bromley, after sir thomas lawrence.
237during many months the two emperors remained in a half-hostile condition, but the strain finally became too great. war was inevitable, and napoleon set about preparing for the struggle. during the latter months of 1811 and the first of 1812 his attention was given almost entirely to the military and diplomatic preparations necessary before beginning the russian campaign. by the 1st of may, 1812, he was ready to join his army, which he had centred at dresden. accompanied by marie louise he arrived at dresden on the 16th of may, 1812, where he was greeted by the emperor of austria, the king of prussia, and other sovereigns with whom he had formed alliances.
the force napoleon had brought to the field showed graphically the extension and the character of the france of 1812. the “army of twenty nations,” the russians called the host which was preparing to meet them, and the expression was just, for in the ranks there were spaniards, neapolitans, piedmontese, slavs, kroats, bavarians, dutchmen, poles, romans, and a dozen other nationalities, side by side with frenchmen. indeed, nearly one-half the force was said to be foreign. the grand army, as the active body was called, numbered, to quote the popular figures, six hundred and seventy-eight thousand men. it is sure that this is an exaggerated number, though certainly over half a million men entered russia. with reserves, the whole force numbered one million one hundred thousand. the necessity for so large a body of reserves is explained by the length of the line of communication napoleon had to keep. from the nieman to paris the way must be open, supply stations guarded, fortified towns equipped. it took nearly as many men to insure the rear of the grand army as it did to make up the army itself.
238
portrait of the king of rome.
painting by lawrence. collection of the duc de bassano. this portrait of napoleon ii. is an exquisite work of art, a bright and fresh color-harmony. lawrence must have executed this portrait while travelling in europe, whither he was sent by his sovereign george iv., and paid twenty-five thousand francs a year, to paint for the great windsor gallery the portraits of all the heroes “du grand hasard de waterloo.”—a. d.
239with this imposing force at his command, napoleon believed that he could compel alexander to support the continental blockade, for come what might that system must succeed. for it the reigning house had been driven from portugal, the pope despoiled and imprisoned, louis gone into exile, bernadotte driven into a new alliance. for it the grand army was led into russia. it had become, as its inventor proclaimed, the fundamental law of the empire.
until he crossed the nieman, napoleon preserved the hope of being able to avoid war. numerous letters to the russian emperor, almost pathetic in their overtures, exist. but alexander never replied. he simply allowed his enemy to advance. the grand army was doomed to make the russian campaign.
240
napoleon reading.
by girodet. from the collection of monsieur cheramy of paris.
