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This week's Bulletin has much that is Parisian about it. There's an exhibition on Romantic theatres in the French capital, mostly Second Empire, a lecture about the rumbling after-effects of 'Les Mis' in the United States, and then you can reach for your iPhone and take a virtual tour of the notorious red-light zone in Paris, Palais Royal. In addition to this we bring you the British equivalent of Bernard and Danielle Quentin, indefatigable husband-and-wife-team authors of the dictionaries, "Napoleon's Colonels" (1996), "Napoleon's Ships' captains" (2003), and the "The French fallen at Austerlitz" (2005) and the "French Fallen at Eylau" (2006). Janet and David Bromley are librarians and have published the first part of their magnum opus referencing over 3,000 memorials to soldiers who fought in the British army against the Napoleonic empire. Volume one contains more than 600 pages. Plenty to read, ergo. At the tail end of the letter there's news of a Dutch magazine special issue on Napoleon and the Netherlands and our usual peek at the past 200 and 150 years ago. During Napoleon III's reign the International Exhibition of 1862 opened in London and important steps were taken towards the abolition of slavery in the US. During Napoleon I's reign there was a brief flurry of spy handler expulsion and the execution of a war ministry civil servant 'mole' who had passed on military secrets to the Russians. Enjoy your read...
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WHAT'S ON
"Théâtres romantiques à Paris", Paris, France
Paris during the first half of the nineteenth-century was arguably the theatre capital of the world. Visitors to the numerous venues that littered the streets of Paris could enjoy plays of every style and genre, including vaudeville, opera seria, melodrama and even pantomime. The exhibition, which takes place at the Musée de la Vie romantique and runs until 17 July, features some one hundred loans - works of art from the spectrum, from watercolours and portraits to set designs and costume sketches - taken from the collections of the Musée Carnavalet.
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Lecture: "Les Mis Takes the States: the First Sixty Years of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables", Bristol, UK
The latest event in the BIRTHA (Bristol Institute for Research in the Humanities and Arts) Distinguished Lecturer series is Kathryn M. Grossman's lecture entitled "Les Mis Takes the States: the First Sixty Years of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables". This lecture considers the popularity of Victor Hugo's masterpiece from an American perspective, asking how the novel had come to be a part of the country's national consciousness by the 1920s, when many dramatisations and several film versions had already reached deep into American popular culture. The event takes place at the University of Bristol (UK), on 10 May at 5.15pm.
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iPhone Walking Tour of the Palais- Royal in Paris
An augmented reality iPhone walking tour for the “Le Palais-Royal” has been published. Produced by Diana Haig, author of Walks through Napoleon and Josephine's Paris and Walks through Marie Antoinette's Paris, the iPhone app provides historical anecdotes and quotations from Diderot, Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens, Napoleon Bonaparte, Colette, and Truman Capote and guides visitors around the revolutionary and imperial Paris's notorious fleshpot.
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PRESS REVIEW
The Dutch and 1812
The first 2012 edition of the Dutch history and culture magazine ThemaTijdschriften (Theme Magazines) is "1812", which follows the Russian campaign of 1812. As well as an overview of the invasion, the magazine - which is published by the people behind the bicentenary magazines on Napoleon in the Netherlands - also offers a special focus on the Dutch soldiers that fought in the Grande Armée, including a previously unpublished contemporary account by a Zwolle soldier who fought in Napoleon's service. Full details on the special magazine, available in Dutch, can be found on the Stichting ThemaTijdschriften website (external link in Dutch).
200 YEARS AG0
Russian 'mole' gets his comeuppance
On 1 May 1812, the Frenchman known simply as "Michel" was executed for "having supplied intelligence to a foreign power with a view to providing it with the means of making war on France". Michel, who was handled for a period by Colonel Chernyshev, aide-de-camp to Alexander I and military attaché at the embassy, was uncovered in late February 1812 following the discovery of a note addressed to Chernyshev which had been found in the latter's apartments. Whilst the Frenchman - who worked in the Ministry of War Administration and therefore had access to army strength tables, and accurate troop positions and movements - went to the guillotine for his deceit, Chernyshev was allowed to flee France in order to avoid creating a diplomatic incident. March was still too early for Napoleon to openly break from Alexander I.
150 YEARS AGO
The International Exhibition opens in London
On 1 May 1862, the International Exhibition in London opened its doors to the public. By the time it closed, on 1 November 1862, it had received more than 6.2 million visitors. Find out more with our close-up on: the British and French Universal Exhibitions during the Second Empire.
The District of Columbia Emancipation Act
As conflict in the American Civil War intensified and the Battles of Shiloh and Corinth dominated the European news, a key step in the USA's abolition of slavery was made. On 16 April 1862, having successfully negotiated a Senate vote earlier in the month (ninety-three votes to thirty-nine), President Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act. The act set aside about one million dollars in potential compensation for slave owners as well as any freed slaves who sought to emigrate outside of the United States, such as to Liberia or Haiti. The document put an end to what many termed the "national shame" at the existence of hundreds of slaves in the nation's capital (the American politician Charles Sumner often portrayed Lincoln as the largest slave owner in America), and paved the way for Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, issued eight or so months later. Washington, D.C. still celebrates Emancipation Day on 16 April.
Despite receiving little attention in the French press (the Moniteur Universel reported briefly on the bill's signature a couple of weeks later, on 29 April), Lincoln's project actually followed a similar model of compensated emancipation used by a number of European nations, including the British Empire (whose act was passed in 1833) and the French colonies (1848).
The text to the District of Columbia Emancipation Act can be found on the National Archives & Records Administration website (external link).
Wishing you an excellent "Napoleonic" week,
Peter Hicks & Hamish Davey Wright
Historians and web-editors
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, N° 624, 27 APRIL - 3 MAY 2012
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© This Napoleon.org weekly bulletin is published by the Fondation Napoléon. Reproduction or all or part of this bulletin is forbidden, without prior agreement of the Fondation Napoléon.
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OPERATION ST HELENA
The Fondation Napoléon and the Souvenir Napoléonien, in association with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have announced an international fund-raising campaign to restore and save Napoleon I's residence on the island of St Helena. All the details regarding the campaign as well as donation forms and advice for donating from outside France, can be found on napoleon.org.
FONDATION NAPOLEON ON THE WEB
Each week we offer you a "mystery link" to somewhere on napoleon.org. Click on the link to discover a part of the website you might not have visited before...
MAGAZINE
Just published
- Janet & David Bromley, Wellington's Men Remembered: A Register of Memorials to Soldiers who fought in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo - Vol 1
Press review
- The Smithsonian online: "What the Luddites really fought against"
Seen on the web (external links)
- iPhone Walking Tour of the Palais- Royal in Paris
EVENTS
On now and coming up
A selection of events taking place now or in the coming weeks, taken from our What's on listings.
Exhibitions
- "The War of 1812 in print", Various cities, Russian Federation [11/04/2012 - 15/08/2012]
Full details
- "Théâtres romantiques à Paris", Paris, France [13/03/2012 - 15/07/2012]
Full details
Festivals
- Festival of Luddite Culture and Ideas, Huddersfield, UK [28/04/2012 - 28/04/2012]
Full details
Talks
- Lecture: "Les Mis Takes the States: the First Sixty Years of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables", Bristol, UK [10/05/2012]
Full details
- "The Nursing Practice of Mary Seacole: Influences, Case Studies and the Opinion of Others", London, UK [30/04/2012]
Full details
NAPOLEON.ORG
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