February 2d. (To the Emperor of Russia.) General Savary has just arrived, and I have spent many hours with him, talking about Your Majesty.

An army of 50,000 men, made up of Russians, of French, perhaps even with a few Austrians, marching by way of Constantinople on India, would no sooner reach the Euphrates than England would tremble and be on her knees to the Continent. I am all ready in Dalmatia, and so is Your Majesty on the Danube. One month after we had concluded an agreement our armies could be on the Bosphorus. The shock would reverberate to India, and England would be conquered.

(To Caulaincourt.) You will find herewith a letter for the Emperor Alexander. I have no doubt that Tolstoi writes home many foolish things. At a hunting party a few days ago at St. Germain, he was in the same carriage as Marshal Ney; a quarrel arose, and they went so far as to challenge one another. Three things that Tolstoi said on this occasion were noted: the first, that we would soon have war; the second, that the Emperor Alexander was too weak; and lastly, that if Europe was to be divided the Russian right must reach Hamburg and the left Venice. You can imagine what might be said in reply by Marshal Ney, who knows nothing of what is going on, and is as ignorant of my plans as a drummer of the line! The fact is that Russia is poorly represented.

Tell Romanzoff and the Emperor that I am inclined to favour an expedition to India, that nothing could be easier. If the Emperor Alexander can come to Paris, I would be delighted. If he can come only halfway, put the compasses on the map and strike the middle point between St. Petersburg and Paris.

12th. My troops have entered Rome.

20th. (To the Grand Duke of Berg.) I have appointed you my lieutenant with the army in Spain. Write to the generals informing them of your arrival at Bayonne, and giving them your instructions.

Your relations with the Spanish commanders must be friendly, and your only explanation for occupying the fortresses must be that it is necessary to protect the rear of our army. If the Governor-general of Navarre should decline to surrender the fortress of Pamplona, you can use the troops of Moncey's corps to take it.
 
 

Murat is a hero, and an ass!
 
 

25th. (To de Tournon.) Proceed to Madrid by the quickest way, and hand my letter to the King. You will await the answer, spending five or six days in Madrid. When you write by the courier of M. de Beauharnais you will give only vague information and nothing that could raise the suspicion that you are informed as to my plans.

March 5th. I may possibly start for Spain in less than a week. I have 80,000 men within 30 leagues of Madrid. Junot with 30,000 men is in control of Lisbon and Portugal, and yet I have not brought a single man from the Grand Army back to France. I have nearly 300,000 men in Poland and on the Oder. This year's conscription is being levied. But my expenses are enormous!

16th. (To the Grand Duke of Berg.) Continue to talk smoothly. Reassure the King, the Prince of Peace, the Prince of the Asturias, the Queen. The great thing is to reach Madrid, to rest your troops, and to collect supplies. Say that I shall soon be there to arrange and conciliate everything.

25th. We have reached the fifth act of the play, and shall soon get to the climax.

27th. (To Louis Napoleon, King of Holland.) My brother, the King of Spain has just abdicated; the Prince of Peace has been put into prison; an insurrection has broken out in Madrid. The Grand Duke of Berg presumably entered the city on the 23d at the head of 40,000 men. This being the state of things, I have thought of placing you on the throne of Spain. Reply categorically what you have to say to this proposal.

30th. (To the Grand Duke of Berg.) I have received your letter, and those of the King of Spain. Get the Prince of Peace out of the clutches of those people. I don't want any harm to happen to him. The King says he is going to your camp. I am waiting to hear that he is safely there before giving you instructions. You did right in not recognizing the Prince of the Asturias. Get King Charles IV into the Escurial if you can, treat him with the highest respect, and declare that he continues to govern Spain until I recognise the revolution. I highly approve all you have done.

April 5th, Bordeaux:
I arrived here just when no one was expecting me.

9th. (To the Grand Duke of Berg.) I perceive that, as a rule, you attach too much importance to the opinion of the city of Madrid. It is not for the sake of complying with the whims of the population of Madrid that I have brought together such large armies in Spain.

It is desirable that the Prince of the Asturias should come to meet me, - in which case I would await him at Bayonne.

12th. I am just starting for Bayonne. When I judge the moment has come, I shall arrive in Madrid, like a cannon-ball.

15th, Bayonne:
I reached Bayonne yesterday. I am expecting the Prince of the Asturias, who now styles himself Ferdinand VII; he is near the frontier. I am also expecting the unfortunate Charles IV and the Queen.

17th. King Charles IV left the Escurial on the 14th; he will therefore reach Burgos to-day or to-morrow. I hope to see him here.

(To Prince Murat.) If there should be any excitement, you can give out in the newspapers that the French armies have moved into Spain for an expedition to Africa, and that I am to direct their movements in person from Madrid; that the Prince of Peace, thinking I would influence the King, and influence him unfavourably to himself, became alarmed, and that all the trouble has come from this.

(To Marshal Bessières.) If the Prince of the Asturias should attempt to turn back at Burgos, have him placed under arrest, and send him to Bayonne.

18th. I have nearly 100,000 men here in provisional regiments. What with drill and exercise they are improving daily. They are all fine big boys of twenty, and I am very pleased with them.

19th. The interests of my House and of my Empire demand that the Bourbons should cease to reign in Spain! Countries where monks (rule) are easy to conquer!
 

It might cost me 200,000 men!
 

25th. The Prince of the Asturias is here; I am treating him well. I receive him at the head of the stairs, but do not accompany him (to the door).

The King and Queen will be here in a couple of days. The Prince of Peace arrives to-night. The unfortunate man excites pity. For a month he was between life and death, under constant threats. He never changed his shirt during all that time, and had grown a beard seven inches long.

26th. (To Murat.) It is time to show energy. I assume you will not spare the Madrid mob if it budges. A man at the head of 50,000 soldiers should not write such a letter as you wrote to the Infant Don Antonio, nor have recourse to intriguing methods. Your order of the day to the soldiers on the Burgos affair is wretched. Good God! where should we be if I were given to writing four pages to the soldiers to tell them not to allow themselves to be disarmed, and to extol as a heroic deed the fact that a detachment of fifteen men fired on a mob? Frenchmen are too acute not to laugh at such proclamations, and mine is not the school at which you learned to write them. What will you do in a crisis if you lavish your proclamations now? Three orders of the day like yours would demoralize an army.

(To Marshal Bessières.) There occurred at Santander, on the 22d, a demonstration against the French. Send an officer there, and declare to the inhabitants that if a single Frenchman is touched they will pay for it dear; my intention is, on the news of the least disorder, to send a brigade there, with cannon, and to burn the whole place down.

May 1st. I have just met the King and Queen, who are very glad to be here. The King received his sons with displeasure. All the Spaniards have kissed bands; but the old King appears to be very angry with them.

The Prince of the Asturias is very stupid, very surly, very hostile to, France; with my knowledge of how to handle men, his twenty-four years' experience makes no impression.

King Charles is a good soul. Whether it comes from his position, or from his circumstances, he gives the impression of an honest and kindly patriarch. The Queen's heart and history are revealed in her face; that is saying everything. It surpasses all one could imagine. They are both of them dining with me. The Prince of Peace looks like a bull; he is rather like Daru.

(To Charles IV., offering his arm.) Lean on my arm, I am strong.

(To the Queen.) Perhaps Your Majesty thinks I am going too fast?

(The Queen: Well, sire, that is rather your habit!)
 

If this thing were going to cost me 80,000 men I wouldn't do it; but it won't take 12,000; it's mere child's play. I don't want to hurt anybody, but when my great political chariot is rolling, it's as well to stand from under the wheels.
 

2d. As the Prince of the Asturias is not accommodating, it must all end in a crisis and an act of mediation.

(To Murat.) I am pleased with King Charles and the Queen. I shall send them to Compiègne. I intend to place the King of Naples on the Spanish throne. I propose giving you the throne of Naples or of Portugal. Let me know what you think of it immediately, for the whole business must be finished in one day.

5th. (To the Prince of the Asturias.) If you have not recognised your father as your rightful sovereign before midnight, and notified Madrid to that effect, you will be treated as a rebel.

6th. King Charles is an honest and good man. By the treaty he transfers all his rights over the Spanish Crown to me.

The worst of the job is done.
 

An insurrection broke out in Madrid on the 2d. Thirty or forty thousand people collected in the streets, and in the houses, firing from the windows. Two battalions of the fusiliers of the Guard, with 400 or 500 horse, restored order. More than two thousand of the mob were killed.
 

18th. Order for the Grand Duke of Berg to move General Dupont with his first division towards Cadiz.

21st. All the talk about a divorce does a great deal of harm; it is as improper as it is hurtful.

28th. (To Decrès.) If we have 19 of the line in the Mediterranean; 3 in the Adriatic, at Ancona; 20 at Flushing; 25 at Brest, Lorient, and Rochefort; 2 at Bordeaux; 8 at Cadiz and Lisbon; total 77 French ships, to which add 10 that the King of Holland has in his port; 1 for Denmark; 12 of the Emperor of Russia in the Baltic; 11 which the Emperor of Russia has at Lisbon and Toulon; 20 of the Spaniards: total 54; this would form a mass of 131 ships; and if we were to deduct the 12 Russians in the Baltic, it would leave 119 under my direct control, and backed up by camps of 7000 men at the Texel, of 25,000 men at Antwerp, of 80,000 men at Boulogne, of 30,000 at Brest, of 10,000 at Lorient and at Rochefort, of 6000 Spaniards at Ferrol, of 30,000 men at Lisbon, of 20,000 men at Carthagena, of 25,000 at Toulon, of 15,000 at Reggio, and of 15,000 at Taranto. That looks to me like a chess board on which, without asking much of Fortune, or demanding extraordinary skill from our seamen, we should get very good results.

31st. The bottom of the great question is: who shall have Constantinople?

June 3d. I have dictated orders for energetic steps to be taken at Santander. That city apparently needs an example. As the insurrection looks serious, we must act with large numbers.

7th. Dupont should have reached Cordova to-day.

9th. The King of Naples arrived here yesterday. He is recognised as King of Spain, and will start for Madrid. He has already accepted the oaths of allegiance of several grandees of Spain who are here, of the deputation from the Council of Castille, of the Council of the Indies, and of the Inquisition.

Saragossa has raised the standard of revolt.

13th. (To Murat.) I am sending General Savary to help you. I regret your illness from every point of view.

16th. General Lefebvre found the army of the rebels of Saragossa, commanded by Palafox, on some heights. General Lefebvre marched straight on the enemy, struck them in flank, and did great execution.

17th. (To Cambacérès.) My Cousin: I hear that extravagant reports are circulated at Fouché's. Since the rumours of a divorce were first started, I am told that it is a constant topic at his receptions, although I have expressed my opinion on the matter to him ten times. Have a talk with Fouché and tell him it is time people stopped speaking in this way, and that the thing is scandalous.

30th, Marracq:
It is very desirable that Saragossa should surrender promptly; it appears that such an event would greatly influence the submission of Spain.

July 1st. If it is true that (the troops from) the camp of Gibraltar have marched on Cordova, it may be that General Vedel will not be strong enough to unblock General Dupont.

9th. (To King Joseph.) Be gay and happy; never doubt your complete success.
 

The King started this morning. I escorted him as far as the frontier. H was followed by the whole Junta in nearly one hundred carriages; but they were carriages that had been rather hurriedly equipped.
 

13th. Dupont has more troops than he needs. Any reverse with which he might meet would not amount to much.

17th. The Emperor wishes to form a portable library of about one thousand books. The Emperor also wishes M. Barbier to take in hand the following piece of work: To draw up accounts of the campaigns that have been fought in the valley of the Euphrates from that of Crassus down to the eighth century; to indicate on suitable maps the line followed by each army, with the names, ancient and modern, of the chief cities, geographical details, and historical narratives of each expedition, drawn from the original sources.

(To Joachim Napoleon, King of the Two Sicilies.) My brother I have received your letter. I note with pleasure that the baths are beneficial to your health.

I have good news for you. On the 14th of July General Cuesta was encountered at the head of 35,000 men at Medina de Rio Seco. At six in the morning Marshal Bessières attacked them with 15,000 men, carried their positions, completely routed them, made several thousand prisoners, killed 5000 or 6000, took all their artillery, and dispersed their army. The army charged to the shout of Vive 1'Empereur, and No more Bourbons in Europe.

19th, Bayonne:
(To Joseph Napoleon, King of Spain.) My Brother: You should not be surprised at having to conquer your kingdom. Philip V and Henry IV had to conquer theirs. Keep your spirits up, don't allow yourself to be depressed, and never for one moment doubt but that matters will finish better and more quickly than you imagine.

25th, Toulouse:
Austria is arming, but denies it; she is therefore arming against us. She is spreading the report that I demand some of her provinces: she is therefore trying to cloak as a rightful defence an unprovoked and hopeless attack. Since Austria is arming, we too must arm. I am therefore ordering the Grand Army to be reinforced. My troops are concentrating at Strassburg, Mainz, Wesel.

31st, Bordeaux:
(To Joseph.) I don't like the tone of your letter of the 24th. There is no question of dying, but of fighting, and of being victorious. I shall find in Spain the pillars of Hercules, not the bounds of my power. In all my military career I have seen nothing more cowardly than these mobs of Spanish soldiers.

You must support Dupont. Don't be uneasy as to the outcome of all this business.

August 1st. I can see from the report of the cuirassier officer that Dupont's corps will have to retreat. The whole thing is inconceivable.

2d. Brute! Fool! Coward! Dupont has lost Spain to save his baggage!
 

It's a spot on my uniform!
 

3d. (To General Clarke.) The inclosed documents are for you alone; read them with a map, and you will be able to judge whether there was ever anything since the world was created so senseless, so stupid, and so dastardly! Here are the Macks and the Hohenlohes justified! One can see clearly enough, by General Dupont's own report, that all that happened resulted from his inconceivable folly. This loss of 20,000 picked men, with the moral effect which it is bound to have, has made the King take the grave decision of falling back towards France. The influence which it will have on the general situation prevents my going to Spain in person; I am sending Marshal Ney there.

(To Joseph.) The knowledge that you have been thrown into the midst of events that are beyond your range of experience and of character grieves me, my dear friend. Dupont has covered our standards with infamy. An event like this makes my presence in Paris necessary. I feel the sharpest pang at the thought that at such a moment I cannot be at your side and in the midst of my soldiers. Let me know that you are keeping your spirits up, that you are well, and getting used to soldiering, - here is a splendid opportunity for studying the business.

5th, Rochefort:
I have ordered the 1st corps of the Grand Army, the 6th corps and two divisions of dragoons back to Mainz.

6th. Lisbon is threatened by an English expedition and by an insurrection. Part of the Spanish army has gone over to the English, and the situation looks very grave.

16th, Saint Cloud:
What is going on in Spain is lamentable. My army is not commanded by generals who have made war, but by postal inspectors.

21st. Defeat of Junot at Vimiero.

22d. (To Pauline.) And how are you feeling, lovely princess; are you very tired? What are you doing to-day?

(To Marshal Davout.) As the English have landed large forces in Spain, I have recalled the 1st and 6th corps and three divisions of dragoons from the Grand Army, so as to complete the conquest of that country this winter. Dupont has dishonoured our arms; his stupidity is only equalled by his cowardice. When you (get the details) it will raise the hair of your head. I will do them good justice, and if they have stained our uniform they will have to wash it out.

29th. Russia and Austria have recognised the King of Spain. It is clear that nothing will happen in October; but as to what may be hatched this winter to explode in the spring, that is another matter. - And so life goes, making and unmaking.

30th. (Note on Spanish affairs.) It needs a long experience of war to perceive its principles; one must have undertaken many offensive operations to realize how the slightest incident means encouragement or discouragement, brings about one result or another. In warfare men are nothing, a man is everything.

September 3d. (To M. Cretet.) Give orders for the city of Metz to entertain the troops when they pass. As the city cannot afford it, I will grant three francs per man, but it must all be done in the name of the city. I wish you to instruct the prefects who are on the line of march to look after the troops well, and to maintain in every way possible their loyalty and their love of glory. Speeches, songs, free theatre performances, dinners, - that is what I expect from our citizens for our soldiers.

14th. The Emperor of Russia has given me a rendezvous at Erfurt to confer on European affairs and on the means of putting an end to the unrest of the world and restoring a general peace.

17th. (To Cretet.) Have songs composed in Paris and sent to the chief cities; these songs are to proclaim the glory the army has already won, that which it still has to acquire, and the liberty of the seas that will result from its victories. These songs shall be sung at the dinners (given to the troops). You will have three sets of songs composed, so that the soldiers shall not hear the same song repeated.

18th. (Proclamation.) Soldiers, after your triumphs on the banks of the Danube and of the Vistula, you have crossed Germany by forced marches. I now order you through France without allowing you one moment's repose.

Soldiers, I need you! The Leopard's hideous apparition has sullied the continent of Spain and Portugal; he must flee in terror at your approach. We will carry our triumphant Eagles to the columns of Hercules: there also we have insults to wipe out.

Soldiers, you have surpassed the fame of all armies of modern times, but have you as yet equalled the glory of the armies of Rome, which in the same campaign triumphed on the Rhine and on the Euphrates, in Illyria and on the Tagus?

27th Erfurt:
I arrived this morning at nine.

29th. Your Emperor Alexander is as obstinate as a clam! - That infernal Spanish business is costing me dear!

October 1st. (To Alexander.) What you are suggesting I should do really represents a policy of concessions; if I adopted it, Europe would treat me like a little boy. Is it the act of a friend, of an ally, to propose that I should abandon the only position from which I can threaten Austria in flank if she should attack me while my troops are in the south of Europe? If you absolutely insist on my evacuating (Prussia), I shall consent; but if I do, instead of going into Spain I shall settle Austria's business first.

3d. Erfurt is very brilliant.

5th. (To the Empress.) Conversations lasting whole days are not doing my cold much good. However, all is going well. I am pleased with Alexander, and he ought to be pleased with me: if he were a woman I think I could have him at my feet. I shall soon be back; take good care of yourself; I shall expect to find you plump and in good colour.

9th. I am just back from hunting over the battlefield of Jena. We breakfasted on the spot where I bivouacked.

I went to the ball at Weimar. The Emperor Alexander danced, but I didn't. Forty years of age are forty years!

12th. (Treaty of alliance.) His Majesty the Emperor of the French, King of Italy, and His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, desirous of binding more closely and of making more durable the alliance between them, confirm and renew the treaty of alliance concluded at Tilsit.

13th. (To Joseph.) You need me there.

19th, Saint Cloud:
(To General Junot, Duke of Abrantes.) The Minister of War has shown me all your reports, and in particular your letter of the 15th of October. You have done nothing that is dishonourable. You have brought me back my soldiers, my standards, and my guns. I had hoped, however, that you would do better. You secured the convention, not so much by your foresight as by your courage, and the English are right in blaming the general who signed it. I have now made public my approval of your conduct; what I write confidentially is for you alone. Before the end of the year, I intend myself to place you once more at Lisbon.

21st. Berthier started for Bayonne to-day; I shall be there in a few days.

22d. The Civil and Commercial Codes, and the Code of Procedure, have met with success. The Criminal Code will come before the Legislative Body this session. The Civil Code is the code of the century; its provisions not only preach toleration, but organize it, - toleration the greatest privilege of man.

Liberty is the need of only a small class, endowed by nature with higher faculties than common men. Equality, on the contrary, is what appeals to the mass.

November 3d, Bayonne:
I have just arrived. As I rode at a gallop through some considerable part of the Landes I am a little tired.

4th, Tolosa:
I shall start to-morrow at five, and shall reach Vittoria in the night. I want to cover not more than four or five leagues on the same horse. I intend to enter Vittoria incognito; that is why I shall get there at night. The news will not be out till morning. At nine a salute of sixty guns may be fired.

7th, Vittoria:
Troops are coming in daily. The Guard arrived to-day. I am very busy.

10th, Cubo, 8 P. M. :
(To Joseph Napoleon, King of Spain.) My Brother: I shall start at one in the morning so as to reach Burgos before dawn; there I will make my arrangements for the day, for a victory is nothing, it must be turned to account.

While I think it unnecessary that there should be any ceremony made for me, I think it necessary that there should be for you. As to me, it does not fit my business of soldiering; in any case I don't want any. It seems to me that deputations from Burgos should wait on you and give you a good reception.

16th, Burgos:
Marshal Ney attacks Aranda to-day, and Marshal Bessières, who is marching for the same point, will immediately cover the plain with cavalry up to the mountains of Madrid.

Blake's army of 45,000 men has been defeated at Espinosa and Reinosa.

18th. (To M. de Champagny.) I have read Miss Patterson's letter. I will see her child with pleasure, and will take charge of him, if she will send him to France; as for herself, she can have all she wants. At the time I refused to recognise her I was influenced by political considerations; apart from that, I wish to provide for her son to her satisfaction. For the rest, deal with this matter secretly and tactfully.

23d, Aranda:
I got here at four. Apparently there are serious disturbances at Madrid.

26th. The battle of Tudela completes that of Espinosa. The army of Andalusia commanded by Castaflos, that of Aragon commanded by Palafox, those of Valencia and of New Castille, are destroyed and scattered. We have captured many guns and prisoners and much baggage.

27th. In six days I shall be in Madrid.

30th, at the foot of the Somosierra:
(Colonel Piré: Impossible, sire!)

That is a word I don't know!

(To the Polish lancers.) Carry that position, in a gallop!

(Kozietulski: Forward, trot! Vive l'Empereur!)
 

On the summit of the Somosierra:
(The last surviving Polish officer, to Berthier: I am dying, there are the guns; tell the Emperor!)
 

You are worthy of my Old Guard! I proclaim you my bravest cavalry!

(The Polish lancers: Ave Cæsar!)

Buitrago:
(To Joseph.) We have had an engagement. A corps of 9000 men was in position at the Somosierra, and 4000 at Sepulveda. We defeated those at Somosierra, captured their guns, 50 transport wagons, and a great number of prisoners.

December 4th, Madrid:
Madrid has capitulated, and we occupied it at noon.
 

From the date of the publication of the present decree, feudal dues are at an end in Spain. The tribunal of the Inquisition is abolished as infringing on the sovereign power and civil authority. From the 1st of January next, the custom houses between province and province shall be suppressed and carried to the frontiers.

11th, Chamartin:
(To Alexander, Prince of Neuchâtel.) My Cousin: Send one of your staff officers to Talavera so as to get news of what the English are doing.

22d, Madrid:
I am starting immediately to operate against the English, who appear to have received reinforcements and to be making a show of boldness.

The English move is extraordinary. It is clear that they have left Salamanca. It is probable that they have sent their transports to Ferrol, with the idea that a retreat on Lisbon would be dangerous.

The whole of the Guard is on the march. We shall probably reach Valladolid on the 24th or 25th.

Afternoon, Pass of the Guadarrama:
(Napoleon passes astride on a gun in the midst of a terrific snowstorm. The soldiers: Convicts suffer less than we do! Shoot him down, damn him!)

Espinas, evening:
I have crossed the Guadarrama with a part of the Guard in rather disagreeable weather.

23d, Villacastin:
(To Joseph.) The English appear to be at Valladolid. Put in the Madrid newspapers that 20,000 English are surrounded and lost.

26th, near the Douro, floods, mud, rain:
If the English remained in their positions to-day it is all up with them.

(Sir John Moore, near Valladolid: I am in a hornet's nest, and God knows how I shall get out of it.)

31st, Benavente:
My advance guard is near Astorga. The English are flying as fast as they can, and are abandoning their supplies and baggage.

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