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SPECIAL DOSSIER: THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE: 30 APRIL, 1803
Louisiana: to have and to have not..., by Peter Hicks
After many twists and turns, France finally regained her erstwhile colony from Spain, only to sell it immediately to the young United States, the latter thus doubling its land mass by a stroke of the pen.
Also in the special dossier: the text of the treaty, a timeline, and a bibliography.
FIRST MASS AT LONGWOOD SINCE 9 MAY 1821...
On the occasion of the visit to Saint Helena of the Société des Amis de Malmaison and to mark the end of the first part of the restoration of the Domaines de Sainte-Hélène, supported by the Fondation Napoléon, Michel Martineau, curator of these Domaines, organised on Friday 11 April, a mass in the dining room of Longwood, in the place where Napoleon often received it from 1819 on. Father John, the catholic priest of Saint Helena presided, in the presence of Comte Walewski, Comte Florian Walewski and 25 "pilgrims". The emperor's chapel (a reproduction of Napoleon's offered by Napoléon III) and the consecrated stone of Longwood were used for the occasion.
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO
28 Germinal, An XI (18 April, 1803), Napoléon asked his Minister for the Navy and the Colonies (Ministre de la marine et des colonies), Rear-Admiral Decrès, "that the blacks in Brest - not including the small number of workers who because of their skill are needed for building work, and not exceeding 100 men - should be put at the disposal of the Minister for War for land service." He also ordered the Minister for War to have them formed into companies, trained and marched out of Brest.
Napoléon, to Decrès, Minister for the Navy [letter n° 6697, Correspondance de Napoléon, publiée par ordre de l'empereur Napoléon III]
29 Germinal, An XI (19 April, 1803), the île d'Yeu (of the coast in the Département of the Vendée) was to be armed (with "six 36 pounders, six iron 18 pounders, with enough ammunition for 200 rounds per piece, two 'grils à boulets rouges' and Gomer mortars") as soon as possible. A batallion chief (Chef de bataillon), with police powers over the whole population of the island, should also be put in place as commander of the battery. Furthermore, 3 companies, each of 100 (all inhabitants of the island and able to bear arms) were to be enrolled in order to create a militia of 400 for the protection of the island.
Napoléon, to General Berthier, Minister of War [letter n° 6700, Correspondance de Napoléon, publiée par ordre de l'empereur Napoléon III]
3 Floréal, An XI (23 April, 1803), The First Consul was concerned as to the state of advancement of the works on the fort being built at Port-Haligen, the peninsula of Quiberon. "It is important to take measures such that vessels with a draught of twelve feet can shelter in this port".
Order of the First Consul, to Conseiller d'Etat Crétet, in charge of Bridges and Roads (Ponts et Chaussées) [document n° 6709, Correspondance de Napoléon, publiée par ordre de l'empereur Napoléon III]
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, Easter!
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
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THIS WEEK:
What's on
- Exhibition: Jefferson's America, Napoleon's France
- Exhibition: Napoleon's 'vows of love', in and around Arenenberg, Switzerland
- Exhibition: Napoleon and Alexander I in Hildesheim (Germany)
The monthly titles
- Book of the Month: The Oxford History of the French Revolution, by William Doyle
- This month's picture, The Empress Eugénie in 18th-century costume, by Franz-Xaver Winterhalter
- Article of the Month, Louisiana: to have and to have not..., by Peter Hicks
- In the Collectors Corner, The Prince Impérial and his dog Néro, by Carpeaux
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