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THIS MONTH'S BOOK
William Pitt the Younger: a biography, by William Hague
The younger William Pitt – known as the ‘schoolboy' – began his days as Prime Minister in 1783 deeply underestimated and completely beleaguered. Yet he annihilated his opponents in the General Election the following year and dominated the governing of Britain for twenty-two years. A fascinating new book by the youngest ever leader of the British Conservative Party.
PUBLICATIONS
Two volumes coming out shortly: on 20 April, volume 2 of the General Correspondance of Napoleon, Editions Fayard. This tome contains 2,457 letters written by Napoleon in the period 1798-1799, of which 1,190 were not published in the edition published under the aegis of Napoleon III. Also includes a glossary of Arabic words, the calendar and monetary convertor, maps, a timeline and an index of names, people and places. Furthermore, on 4 May, the Actes du colloque "Napoléon et l'Europe", organised last November by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Fondation Napoléon, is also to be published by Editions Fayard.
200 YEARS AGO
On 16 Ventôse, An XIII (7 March, 1805), Napoleon wrote a note for his Navy Minister (Ministre de la Marine), Vice Admiral Decrès: "In Rochefort there is a large number of convicts doing nothing. They could be camped at Oleron and used for the work on Fort Boyard. His Majesty, in the meantime, gives an order to deploy troops for this work; however, this solution cannot be anthing more than short term since [...] the requirements of the services on every side are too urgent for us to be able to employ troops in the contruction of ports."
On the same day he wrote to Cretet, Conseiller d'Etat (Councillor of State) and Directeur des Ponts-et-Chaussées et du Cadastre (Director of the Bridges, Roads and cadastral services): "Our penitentiaries are full of beggars and other men to whom we could give useful work. At the same time, a great number of our Departements are still infested with beggars and vagabonds. And yet we need strong arms at every point where major construction work is being undertaken; we need them at Cherbourg, in the Rochefort marshes, at Fort Boyard. Could we not form these men into regiments?"
An original way to learn, to say the least…
«Everything in Paris is artistic, right down to the cook and maître d'hôtel. Recently invented recipes have been named after chemists, botanists and scientists; and on our dessert plates we no longer see images of flower vases and cornucopias of sweetmeats, but rather views of Rome, Egyptian temples, Greek monuments. After dinner, well-born children rush to their dessert plates; they devour the summet of the pyramid of Egypt, the foot of the Aventine hill, a freize from the Temple of Ephsus. Thus they learn geography whilst eating their pudding. »
Gazette de France, 17 Ventôse, An XIII (8 March, 1805)
19 Ventôse, An XIII (10 March, 1805), Napoleon asked Archichancelier (Arch-chancellor) Lebrun to "draw up a project for statues [...], regulating relations between members of the Imperial Family and the Emperor, and the way in which the members of the Imperial family should be brought up."
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week!
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
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THIS WEEK
Websites
- Sir Augustus Paget and the Order of St John of Jerusalem, 1798-1804
Go to the Napoleonic Directory and select 'History' in the 'Websites' scroll bar.
- Fulltext online version of Eli F. Heckscher's 1922 book, The Continental System
Go to the Napoleonic Directory and select 'History' in the 'Websites' scroll bar.
What's on
- For Napoleonic and Nelsonian 2005 bicentenaries, watch our 2005 bicentenaries page
- Exhibition: The man who crowned Napoleon: Cardinal Caprara and his liturgical robes, Museo Civico d'Arte Industriale e Galleria Davia Bargellini, Bologna, Italy
- Talks: 'Nelson's Contemporaries', National Maritime Museum, London, UK
- Fair: The International Napoleonic Fair, St Albans, UK
- Exhibition: Decoration in the Age of Napoleon: Empire Elegance Versus Regency Refinement, New York Public Library, US
- Exhibition: The Treasures of the Fondation Napoléon, Paris, France
The monthly titles
- This month's book: William Pitt the Younger: a biography, by William Hague
- This month's painting: Allegorical drawing to the glory of H. M. the Emperor, by Innocent-Louis Goubaud
- This month's article: British Strategic Foreign policy, 1806-1815, by Peter Hicks
- In the Collectors Corner, Complete works of Monsieur Arnault (3 volumes, bearing Napoleon's great coat of arms)
Got a problem with a link in the letter? Try the homepage
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