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THIS WEEK IN THE BULLETIN
First, there's Gérard sensual painting of the wealthy and beautiful Madame Tallien. Then, we bring you a presentation by the Fondation Librarian, Chantal Lheureux-Prevot, of two recent acquisitions giving statistical details regarding Consular and Imperial France. In ‘200 years ago' there's Napoleon's gradual encroaching on Spain, both military and naval, and then in ‘150 years ago' there's a presentation of Brunel's ill-fated but world-renowned vessel, Great Eastern, and an account of ostrich hunting in the Second Empire Sahara. In ‘Press review', there's a review of a book on First Empire economics and in ‘Just published' there's Marshal MacDonald's diary of his 1825 visit to see his Hebridean ancestors.
Enjoy.
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THIS MONTH'S PAINTING
Madame Tallien by François Gérard (baron) (1770-1837)
More than any other period in the history of France, that of the Directory paved the way for certain emblematic women to make their mark and almost to become symbols of the renewed vigour of social life after the torments of the Revolution and particularly the Terreur. And the painter Gérard immortalised the most famous of them, namely, Josephine, the wife of the young General Bonaparte, Laure de Bonneuil - Madame Regnaud de Saint-Jean d'Angely -, Madame Récamier, and of course Madame Tallien, shown here, painted in 1804.
Detail © Photothèque des Musées de la Ville de Paris / Joffre
Full Story
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NAPOLEONIC PAGES
The Statistics of ‘Napoleonic France'
Two recent acquisitions at the Fondation Napoléon library are contemporary statistical accounts of France, not only giving general information regarding the territory and administrative organisation but also going right down to the individual village level. The two publications will be of exceptional interest and use to historians and enthusiasts alike…
Full Story
For all our Napoleonic pages files, click here.
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150 YEAR AGO
Shipbuilding
The second and definitive launch of the massive, ill-fated steamship, Leviathan or Great Eastern, took place in London on Sunday 31 January, 1858 – the first launch (3 November 1857) had ended catastrophically with the death of two workman and ship moving only a few inches. The January event was naturally reported on by journals the world over. In Paris the Almanach Napoléon 1859 gave the following account. «It is the largest vessel known. It is 210 metres long, 28 to 37 metres wide, 18 metres deep; it is arranged to house 4,000 passengers and 400 crewmen; it could transport 10,000 soldiers; it is lit by gas and electric light». There were giant paddle-wheels on either side of the ship powered by four steam engines – the propeller alone was 24 feet in diameter and weighed 36 tons. The ship weighed a colossal 15,000 tons. It also had six masts and 1,686 m² of sail.
It was built by the great British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, although he was to die before it managed to complete its first voyage. Throughout its building and launch, the project suffered many setbacks both technical and financial. Though it was never a success carrying passengers, Great Eastern was however to find a role laying cables throughout the world.
See the picture of the vessel and history of the launching of the ship on the London National Maritime Museum web site
For a full file on the Great Eastern, see the Cornish museum, Porthcurno Telegraph Museum's Web Exhibition entitled ‘Brunel's Great Eastern'
(Some confusion there, however, regarding the position of Napoleon III in the chronological run of things…)
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“It was a funny old world” - Ostrich hunting in the Algerian Sahara
A century and a half ago Algeria boasted a healthy ostrich population. And ostrich hunting was the preferred pastime of the chieftains of tribes such as the Mekhalifs, and on occasions the chiefs were joined by French officers. The hunts were clearly successful, however, because by the beginning of the 20th century, the ostrich was extinct in Algeria. The subsequent fad for ostrich feathers was provided for by the ostrich rearers of South Africa.
On 26 January, 1858, the Moniteur Universel, reported on the practice of Ostrich hunting.
«In the south of Algeria, ostrich hunting takes place on the immense plateau situated between Laghouat to the north, the Beni Mzab tribe (Mozabites) to the south, the Oued Zergoun to the east, and the Oued Alsaar to the west. […] This plateau becomes desert in the period from May to October […] It is at this time that the ostriches are driven out of the southern regions by the blazing sun to invade our Sahara. […] Ostrich hunting always takes place in the hottest time of year; the season lasts forty-six days (from 25 June to 10 August) […] This type of exercise is a privilege which belongs to only a few tribes. […] The horses used for ostrich hunting have to be trained for eight to fifteen days before the hunt. The method used by the Mekhalifs is the following: they deprive the horse of fodder, they diminish the amount of barley, and they gradually accustom the animal to races of two to four leagues, right at midday».
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200 YEARS AGO
The beginning of “the Spanish affair”
Gradually Napoleon's plans to take Spain in addition to Portugal begin to become clear. On 31 October, 1807, he had written to Junot - “I am sure I do not need to tell you that no fortress should be left in Spanish hands” (Correspondence n°13,314), - clearly revealing that the Fontainebleau treaty of 29 October (see Bulletin 430) (signed two days earlier) was not to be fixed in stone and that there was not necessarily to be any sharing of Portugal with Spain. On 8 January, 1808, 30,000 men under Moncey began to move out of Bayonne, soon crossing the Pyrenees and occupying all the chief towns in Biscay and Navarre. Napoleon was also aiming to bring the Spanish fleet in the impregnable port of Cadiz under his control. On 27 January, 1808, the emperor wrote as follows to the Minister for Foreign Relations, Champagny: «Monsieur de Champagny, send a special courier to Spain carrying the order to Sieur Beauharnais [French ambassador in Madrid] to ask that the 120-gun ship Prince des Asturies [commanded by Admiral Gravina's at Trafalgar and badly damaged there] and the ship Montañez [74-gun, commanded by Josef Salcedo at Trafalgar, but only lightly damaged at that time] should be handed over to me, and I will cede to them Atlas [74 guns] at Vigo so that I have eight ships in Cadiz, including these two ships and San Justo [74-gun, another escapee from Trafalgar with light damage, commanded at that time by Miguel Gaston] which the King of Spain has put at my disposal; also have him ask that effective measures be taken so that four Spanish vessels can sail to Cadiz to join my squadron there, taking the total to twelve ships… » (Direction des archives du ministère des affaires étrangères (shelfmark: 1780), previously unpublished). In a letter written the following day he noted: «Orders must be given by the Spanish court such that a division of 15,000 men, which is a Perpignan, should be received in Barcelona, so that from there it can go to Cadiz» (Correspondence n°13,495).
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week.
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, No 442, 25-31 January, 2008
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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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Got a problem with a link in the Bulletin? Go to the homepage: http://www.napoleon.org
NB: LIBRARY CLOSURE AT THE FONDATION NAPOLEON
On Tuesday 29 January, 2008, the Fondation Napoléon library will close exceptionally at 4pm. We are sorry for any inconvenience caused.
INFORMATION
The Austerlitz auditorium at the Paris Musée de l'Armée is now once again open after a closure of two years and six months refurbishment work. The room has been modernised to accommodate automated projection and simultaneous translation. The inaugural lecture was held on 12 December 2007.
THIS WEEK in the MAGAZINE
Press review:
French History vol. 21, Number 4, December 2007
Just published
- Hache, Jean Didier, The French Macdonald. Journey of a Marshal of Napoleon in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, Marshal Macdonald,Duke of Tarentum. The 1825 Travel Diary of Jacques Etienne Joseph Alexandre Macdonald, with translation and commentary by Jean-Didier Hache and Domhnall Uilleam Stiùbhart
Exhibitions:
- Symbols of Power: Napoleon and the Art of the Empire Style, 1800-1815, Boston, USA
- Brilliant Europe - Jewels from the European courts, Brussels, Belgium
- Indispensable nécessaires, Reuil-Malmaisons, France
- Gustave Courbet's works, Grand Palais, Paris, France
- "The trace of the eagle", the Invalides dome, Paris, France
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