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THIS WEEK'S LETTER...
... features a broad spectrum of Napoleonic history. As well as our new article of the month, in which Peter Hicks discusses Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte's time in England, we also have a review of Jeremy Black's book on the War of 1812, plus our latest selection from Napoleonica. La Revue (a look at a little-known fictional dialogue between Napoleon and a British traveller, written by the Russian musicologist Alexandre Oulybychev). Further down, we also have a Second Empire recipe for apple fritters in Bon Appétit! and details of an exhibition at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts dedicated to Charles Garnier, the man behind Paris' magnificent Opera House. We round off our letter with 200 and 150 years ago: news of the death of Marie-Josephine of Savoy (Louis XVIII's wife), British liberalism and Franco-British relations, and further details of Eugenie's travels around Scotland.
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ARTICLE OF THE MONTH
Louis Napoleon, the political exile in England, part one: 1830-1838, by Peter Hicks
Out of his sixty-five years on this planet, Louis Napoleon, future-Napoleon III, spent only twenty-eight of them in France. The rest of his life was spent in exile, whether in Italy, Germany, Switzerland, England or (exceedingly briefly) the United States. It is his stay in, and relationship with, Britain which I propose to discuss here. A Britain whose mythical reputation was based on what at the time was called liberty. And his visit to the country and his frequenting of liberal circles were to a have profound effect on his political make-up. His socialist, Saint-Simonian sentiments were forged in the difficult years of exile when he was searching for a role to play in the world post Napoleon I.
And our article of the month on the French side: "Oudinot 1809-1810 : Les lauriers de la gloire".
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JUST PUBLISHED
Book review: The War of 1812 in the Age of Napoleon, by Jeremy Black
Jeremy Black's The War of 1812 in the Age of Napoleon offers an account of the war fought between the United States of America and the British Empire, framed within a wider political and economic context. Taking in the Seven Years' War, the American War of Independence, the American attacks of 1812 and 1813, the war at sea, and the British counterattack (including the burning of Washington, D.C., the Capitol and the White House), Black charts a breathless course through an extremely complicated story.
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NAPOLEONICA. LA REVUE
Issue n° 8
Our latest selection from issue n° 8 of Napoleonica. La Revue is Michel Niqueux's article "« Conversation entre Bonaparte et un voyageur anglais » Un inédit français d'Alexandre Oulybychev (1819)". In 1819, Alexandre Oulybychev (1794-1858), an important figure in the Russian ministry of foreign affairs and internationally famous musicologist, invented a dialogue between a British traveller and Napoleon. In the same vein as his anti-despotic utopia written in the same year, Oulybychev used the figure of the British traveller to represent Napoleon as a democrat and fierce opponent of the Holy Alliance. As such the text is an excellent example of the re-evaluation of Napoleon which took place in Russia post-1814, notably in what were later to become Decembrist circles. Here published for the first time is the dialogue and a presentation of the work (in French).
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NAPOLEON.ORG
Bon Appétit! Apple fritters
The cultivation of apple trees in the gardens and orchards of the Second Empire was extremely common, due in no small part to the high demand for eating apples and cider-making fruit. Table apples were principally sourced from market gardeners based on the town outskirts, whilst cider apple production was one of the Normandy region's most profitable trades. The apple and, more importantly, how to improve it (profitability, the size of the fruit, its acidity and taste) were two of the biggest preoccupations for the numerous departmental agricultural societies of the period, and study after study was released, concerning new practices, varietal improvements and the success of new grafts.
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WHAT'S ON
"Charles Garnier. Un architecte pour l'Empire", Paris, France
The Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris is opening up its galleries in order to host an exhibition dedicated to one of the most famous architects of the 19th century, Charles Garnier. Even before its completion in 1875, the Opera House (which adorns the Avenue de l'Opéra) was already considered to be Garnier's crowning achievement. In a bid to dazzle France and the rest of the world with its architectural clout, the imperial regime presided over the inauguration of the monument's facade in 1867 as part of the Exposition Universelle which was also taking place in Paris. This building would later be named the Palais Garnier, after its architect. Its combination of theatricality and eclecticism was to give birth to the Napoleon III style.
200 YEARS AGO
Death of Marie-Josephine of Savoy
On 13 November, 1810, Marie-Josephine of Savoy, the wife of Louis XVIII (who had been proclaimed King of France whilst in exile), died following a prolonged and extremely painful bout of hydropsy. After fleeing France following the Revolution, Louis (who whilst in exile went by the title Count de Lisle) and his family took up residence in Britain in 1808. On 26 November, 1810, The Morning Post reported on the lavish funeral ceremony which was due to take place that day, beginning in the French chapel in Marylebone. The procession then moved to Westminster Abbey, where the late Queen was buried in Henry VIII's chapel. The large French emigré population turned out for the occasion, and their names were duly noted down and dispatched back to Napoleon by Savary's spies.
Calls for a Franco-British entente
The secret peace discussions between France and Britain, begun in April 1810 and which lasted six months (see bulletin n°s 544 and 547), eventually proved unsuccessful; as well as a lack of common ground between the two, Britain, in particular, was concerned with releasing a huge number of French troops, captured in Spain and Portugal, who would simply return to their regiments and bolster General Masséna's Armée de Portugal. As The Caledonian Mercury noted on 26 November, 1810, the talks did however provide both nations with the opportunity to discuss the conditions in which prisoners were kept and dispel any rumours as to the mistreatment of British and French detainees (including complaints regarding the newly constructed prison in Dartmoor.
And in a conclusion worthy of its liberal leanings (the newspaper's editor was a certain David Buchanan, an essayist whose writings initially appeared in Cobbett's Political Register, a radical weekly newspaper, and had received support in parliament from liberal statesmen), the article rounded off with a tribute, overflowing with whiggish positivity and espousing mutual respect, to the French generosity of spirit:
"The politeness which the deserving ones [British officers held captive in France] among them received from the French people of all classes, afforded the most pleasing conviction, that the amiable traits of the old French character were still existing in their full force; and though the frippery of the politesse of the ancient regime may have been somewhat diminished, the national politeness and generosity remained uninjured. Hence it becomes a duty incumbent upon us to discredit and discountenance exaggerations and falsehoods sent forth among us by worthless men - men of known contemptible characters, who, for a purpose of base interest, misrepresent and feign, in order to create mutual animosity, where mutual charity, and, we will even say, mutual regard and esteem, ought to prevail." [The Caledonian Mercury, 26 November, 1810]
150 YEARS AGO
Eugenie in Scotland
On 27 November, 1860, The Bury and Norwich Post printed a column discussing Empress Eugenie's trip to Scotland and the reasons for this hurriedly organised, entirely unofficial, visit (see bulletin n° 560). Of particular interest is reference to the Empress' health concerns. The paper wrote of the empress's conviction that she was "doomed to perish like her sister, and of the same painful complaint", although it dismissed her fears as "hypochondriacal delusion", whereby she was "beginning to experience already all the symptoms as prompted by imagination - suffering the pain and weariness in reality, while the disease is only imaginary."
Her stay in Scotland (see our map of her itinerary) took in stopovers in Edinburgh, where she visited the city and the royal palace of Holyroodhouse; she also used the capital as a base from which to visit Craigmillar Castle (21 November) and Abbotsford (20 November), the residence belonging to the 19th-century literary star, Sir Walter Scott. She then journeyed north, to Perth (22 November), passed by Blair Castle (23 November), Taymouth Castle (25 November) and Stirling (26 November), before returning south to Glasgow (27 November). Reports in British diplomatic circles underline however that her visit would appear to have been primarily health related. On 19 December, following an audience with Queen Victoria, Lord Clarendon referred to a consultation with a certain Doctor Locock, who as well as assuaging her fears, also offered her some rather intriguing advice regarding French medical practioners:
"The Empress has [had] a rather long and satisfactory talk with Locock who proved to her she has not the spine complaint she imagined, that she was really well in health and that she had nothing to do but to keep herself quiet and free from French doctors. All this she made Locock write to the Emperor."
Wishing you an excellent "Napoleonic" week,
Peter Hicks & Hamish Davey Wright
Historians and web-editors
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, N° 562, 26 November – 2 December
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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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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...
STATISTIC OF THE WEEK
There are now fourteen million documents available for consultation on Europeana, the European digital library. Launched in 2008 with a mere two million digital files online, a target of ten million documents online by 2010 was set. Mission accomplished!
MAGAZINE
Press review
- The Guardian: Simon Schama and his "vision" of history in schools
- History Today December 2010
Seen on the web
- Europeana European digital library (external link)
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
- "Charles Garnier. Un architecte pour l'Empire", Paris, France [26/10/2010 - 09/01/2011]
Full details
NAPOLEON.ORG
The best of the month:
- Book of the month
- Painting of the month
- Objet d'Art of the month
- Article of the month
NAPOLEONICA.LA REVUE
Available free on Cairn.info
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