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EDITO > THE PEN AND THE SWORD
Here in France, we are still feeling the aftershocks of the events of last week. In the press, as in the funeral orations for those who were brutally murdered, there has been talk of the tradition (and importance) of political (and religious) freedom of expression and caricature. Probably as old as time, it is enshrined in France at least since Voltaire. Whilst Napoleon himself was not keen on mockery – he really could not understand why they let it happen in Britain – he too was allergic to religious pomposity, as we know from what he wrote about, and how he dealt with, the Abbé de Pradt (inter alios). Caricature and mockery are key elements of ‘life in the city' – the science of which we in this part of the world inherit from the Greeks and Romans. Though, as the trials show, it was (and still is) a delicate matter treading the fine line between puncturing false pride and being offensive. In Shakespeare's tragedy of “King Lear”, it is only the fool who can tell his monarch (but also his ‘nuncle') the harsh truth he really needed to hear. And to Napoleon's credit, even he understood that there had to be debate in the country, when during the Hundred Days press freedom was re-introduced. Democracy and freedom of expression are worth the complication. As Evelyn Beatrice Hall noted as an illustration of Voltaire's beliefs (though ‘Mr Acrobat' himself never said it), "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
Peter Hicks
Historien et chargé d'affaires internationales, Fondation Napoléon
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RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN > A CLOSE-UP ON THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN OF 1812 - PART 3
Almost exactly two hundred years ago, in February 1815, the second augmented and corrected edition of Labaume's narratives of the Russian campaign of 1812 was published in France. In it Labaume chronicled some of the terrible scenes of the campaign, and his work would form the founding text for all those writing about the event in later years – an English translation appeared as early as 1818. In this, the third in our three-part series of ‘close-ups' on the Russian Campaign, featuring detailed timelines, images and articles, we bring you an overview of the chaotic and tragic retreat, and Napoleon's lightning ride to Paris in December 1812. To see all previous close-ups click here.
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CARTOONISTS
The power of satirical imagery to provoke and move is very much in the media at the moment. But this is by no means a recent phenomenon. As Napoleon, who was the subject of many witty caricatures by artists on both sides of the channel, is often misquoted as saying, a good sketch is better than a long speech. Find out more about anti-Napoleon cartoons in our special dossier, and if in you are in London over the next months why not visit the exhibition at the British museum: “Bonaparte and the British”.
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MUSIC
“Sur les routes Napoléon” will be the theme of the Berlioz Festival in the Isère in France this summer, celebrating «Berlioz's impossibly large and imperial spirit» with a suitably grandiose repertoire of, notably, Berlioz and Beethoven. In the meantime, why not check out this CD of the italian male-voice choir, Coro Verrez, singing arrangements of Napoleonic songs penned during the second Empire: "A la manière de Napoléon".
200 YEARS AGO > MARIE-LOUISE'S LAST LETTER TO NAPOLEON
After the abdication of Napoleon I, Marie-Louise initially showed herself determined to stand by her husband. The Empress had been repatriated to Austria, staying in Schönbrunn with her son and with her French entourage, but she was watching events closely. However, pressure from her family and Vienna had, little by little, eaten away at her plans to go to Elba. As the secret letters which Napoleon sent from Elba show, Napoleon longed for their reunion, however his wife's enthusiasm began to fade. Marie-Louise sought consolation in Neipperg's arms; after all, had not her husband dallied with a Polish mistress? Marie-Louise had obviously not been spared this information at the court of her father, who every day would put pressure on his daughter to forget her husband. As Duchess of Parma, she was also aware that her ownership of Italian lands, won via Napoleon's conquests, hung in the balance and would be decided by the allies congregating in Vienna who might be swayed by her behaviour regarding the deposed Emperor. Indeed as the months passed, Marie-Louise became more and more evasive regarding the possibility of a reunion at Portoferraio, and even wrote to the Emperor of Austria, insisting “Rest assured, my dear Papa, that I desire less than ever to set out for this voyage”. And finally, on the 3rd January 1815, she wrote a letter which sounded distinctly like an Adieu! to her husband: “I hope that this year will be happier for you, that you will at least be at peace on your island, and live happily for many years, for the joy of all who love you and are attached to you, like me.”
Three days later she served the traditional ‘Galette des Rois' (containing a hidden charm), in Schönbrunn. And on that occasion it was the little “Roi de Rome” who won the symbolic Epiphany crown…
150 YEARS AGO > SILVER MINES IN MEXICO
As the French army performed what it thought would be the last mopping up operations in Mexico before leaving Maximilian in total control – namely, the siege of the capital city of the region Oaxaca, begun on 15 January 1865, leaks appeared, notably in the Daily Alta California (Volume 17, Number 5438, 25 January 1865), quoting an article from the San Francisco Press of the previous night, reporting that France had forced Maximilian to hand over the wealthy silver-mining area of Mexico, Sonora, to Napoleon III in payment for the Jecker loan (the initial reason for French intervention in Mexico). This staggering news dismayed not only Mexican liberals but also Maximilian's representative in Paris, José Miguel Hidalgo, who complained to his sovereign that “Sonora must be for us”. Napoleon and his ministers however were playing their cards close their chests, neither admitting nor denying the rumour, not least because this impending appropriation was of great concern to politicians north of the Mexican border. Both the North and South of the United States were deeply troubled. The politician William McKendree Gwin had presented to Napoleon III a plan to settle American slavers in the Sonora region (which had been accepted, it was thought). Furthermore, American ‘republican' support for those fighting Maximilian in Mexico under Juarez was to grow throughout the first half of the year, culminating in direct aid after the end of the Civil War on 26 May. So worried were US politicians that a northern politician, Francis P. Blair Jr. was allowed to pass through Confederate lines on 12 January 1865 to present to Jefferson Davis, president of the confederacy, his proposal of joint North-South intervention in Sonora. The matter was to rumble on inconclusively until the summer. In the end Maximilian was to hold out against French pressure to cede the mines or profit from them, a fact that Maximilian would recall to his accusers in his trial in 1867, in vain.
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Wishing you an excellent Napoleonic week!
Peter Hicks and Rebecca Young (with Emma Simmons)
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN No. 742, 16-22 JANUARY, 2015
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PRESS REVIEW
- 2 Reviews of Victoria, A Life, by A. N. Wilson
- Lucien Bonaparte, Napoleon's scandalous brother, by Shannon Selin
- Review of “June 1809: The Siege of Raab” by Ferdi Irmfried Wöber in Napoleonic Historical Society
JUST PUBLISHED
- AASLESTAD, Katherine B., JOOR, Johan (eds.), Revisiting Napoleon's Continental System: Local, Regional and European Experiences (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014)
WHAT'S ON
- Preview of the film "Waterloo, l'ultime bataille" by Hugues Lanneau (in Paris) [19/01/2015]
- "From Dirty Shirts to Bucaneers: The Battle of New Orleans in American Culture" Louisiana State Museum [11/01/2015 - 31/12/2015]
- "Answering the Call: Tennesseans in the Battle of New Orleans" [06/01/2015 - 13/04/2015]
- Bicentenary of Napoleon's Presence on the Island of Elba [11/04/2014 - 26/02/2015]
- Treasures from the Royal Archives [17/05/2014 - 25/01/2015]
- "Coaching the Congress Along" - Exhibition at the Carriage Museum, Vienna [18/09/2014 - 09/06/2015]
- "Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art [21/10/2014 - 01/02/2015]
- "Les Adieux à l'Impératrice" at Malmaison [05/11/2014 - 02/02/2015]
- “Cairo to Constantinople: Early Photographs of the Middle East” [07/11/2014 - 22/02/2015]
SEEN ON THE WEB
- TV interview (in Italian) with Roberto Race author of “Il Napoleone il Comunicatore”
WATERLOO
- Battle of Waterloo site in Belgium to get permanent memorial (BBC video)
- Game of Thrones star Sean Bean films at Napoleonic fort
- A letter marking the Battle of Waterloo is among important Welsh archives to be conserved
WAR OF 1812
- Co-author of 'Battle for Southern Frontier' to sign books, discuss wars' coast connections (Pascagoula Public Library)
- Review of exhibition "From Dirty Shirts to Buccaneers: The Battle of New Orleans in American Culture"
- Hill Memorial Library opens its “À la Militaire” exhibit, with original documents from the War of 1812, chronicling the Battle of New Orleans
- Andrew Jackson and the Battle of New Orleans to get the Hollywood treatment
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