Napoleon: Complex

The Dish

by Tracy R. Walsh

Brian Eads notes that “200 years on, the French still cannot agree on whether Napoleon was a hero or a villain”:

“The divide is generally down political party lines,” says professor Peter Hicks, a British historian with the Napoléon Foundation in Paris. “On the left, there’s the ’black legend’ of Bonaparte as an ogre. On the right, there is the ’golden legend’ of a strong leader who created durable institutions.”

French politicians and institutions in particular appear nervous about marking the 200th anniversary of Napoleon’s exile. … While the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution that toppled the monarchy and delivered thousands to death by guillotine was officially celebrated in 1989, Napoleonic anniversaries are neither officially marked nor celebrated. For example, a decade ago, the president and prime minister – at the time, Jacques Chirac and Dominque de Villepin – boycotted a ceremony marking the 200th anniversary of the battle of Austerlitz,Napoleon’s greatest…

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May 20 1814: Jefferson to Abraham Small

On May 20 1814, Thomas Jefferson writes to Abraham Small.

SIR – I thank you for the copy of the American Speaker which you have been so kind as to send me.  It is a judicious selection of what has been excellently spoken on both sides of the Atlantic;  and according to your request, I willingly add some suggestions, should another edition be called for.  To the speeches of Lord Chatham might be added his reply to Horace Walpole, on the Seamen’s bill, in the House of Commons, in 1740, one of the severest which history has recorded.  Indeed, the subsequent speeches in order, to which that reply gave rise, being few, short and pithy, well merit insertion in such a collection as this.  They are in the twelfth volume of Chandler’s Debates of the House of Commons.  But the finest thing, in my opinion, which the English language has produced, is the defence of Eugene Aram, spoken by himself at the bar of the York assizes, in 1759, on a charge of murder, and to be found in the Annual Register of that date, or a little after.  It had been upwards of fifty years since I had read it, when the receipt of your letter induced me to look up a MS. copy I had preserved, and on re-perusal at this age and distance of time, it loses nothing of its high station in my mind for classical style, close logic, and strong representation.  I send you this copy which was taken for me by a school-boy, replete with errors of punctuation, of orthography, and sometimes substitutions of one word for another.  It would be better to recur to the Annual Register itself for correctness, where also I think are stated the circumstances and issue of the case.  To these I would add the short, the nervous, the unanswerable speech of Carnot, in 1803, on the proposition to declare Bonaparte consul for life.  This creed of republicanism should be well translated, and placed in the hands and heart of every friend to the rights of self-government.  I consider these speeches of Aram and Carnot, and that of Logan, inserted in your collection, as worthily standing in a line with those of Scipio and Hannibal in Livy, and of Cato and Caesar in Sallust.  On examining the Indian speeches in my possession, I find none which are not already in your collection, except that my copy of Cornplanter’s has much in it which yours has not.  But observing that the omissions relate to special subjects only, I presume they are made purposely and indeed properly.

May 19 1814: Byron’s Night of Othello and Lobster

On May 19 1814, a great many people in London went to Drury Lane to see Edmund Kean play Othello. Lord Byron, Thomas Moore and John Cam Hobhouse were there. Henry Crabb Robinson was also there and described it in his diary:

May 19th. — I accompanied Anthony and Mrs. Robinson to Drury Lane to see Kean play Othello. The long trial of waiting before the door having been endured, the gratification was very great. Of all the characters in which I have yet seen Kean, Othello is the one for which by nature he is the least qualified ; yet it is the one in which he has most delighted me. Kean has little grace or beauty in mere oratorical declamation, but in the bursts of passion he surpasses any male actor I ever saw. His delivery of the speech in which he says, “Othello’s occupation ‘s gone,” was as pathetic as a lover’s farewell to his mistress. I could hardly keep from crying; it was pure feeling, hi the same scene the expression of rage is inimitable.

May 18 1814: Napoleon Inspects his Realm

May 18. Napoleon went upon a tour of the greatest part of the island, accompanied by two chamberlains, two officers of ordnance, one captain of gendarmes, the intendant-general and mayor, the president of the law court and his secretary, General Bertrand, a lieutenant of the British Navy, the Austrian aide-de-camp, and myself. We visited, among other places, Marchiana di Marina, where there was a ‘Te Deum’.

—  Lieutenancy Neil Campbell, in Island of Elba, records in his diary for  May 18 1814

May 17 1814: Jefferson on English Corruption

 It is not in the history of modern England or among the advocates of the principles or practices of her government, that the friend of freedom, or of political morality, is to seek instruction. there has indeed been a period, during which both were to be found, not in her government, but in the band of worthies who so boldly and ably reclaimed the rights of the people, and wrested from their government theoretic acknolegements of them. this period began with the Stuarts, and continued but one reign after them. since that the vital principle of the English constitution is Corruption, it’s practices the natural result of that principle, and their consequences a pampered aristocracy, annihilation of the substantial middle class, a degraded populace, oppressive taxes, general pauperism, & national bankruptcy. those who long for these blessings here will find their generating principles well developed and advocated by the Antagonists of the Edinburgh Review. still those who doubt should read them; every man’s reason being his sole rightful umpire. this principle, with that of acquiescence in the will of the Majority will preserve us free & prosperous as long as they are sacredly observed.

—Thomas Jefferson  writes to John F. Watson, on May 17 1814

May 17 1814: Mary Chaworth Musters and Byron

On May 17 1814, Mary Chaworth Musters writes to Lord Byron, Mary was childhood love of Byron. In 1814, Mary appears to have some interest in rekindling her relationship with Mary. She has left her husband and writes to Byron, who is cool to the idea of meeting her again. 

May 16 1814: JQA Finally Sails

On May 16 1814, John Quincy Adams sets sail out from Reval, which is now Tallinn in Estonia. He notes in his diary.

16th. The wind this morning was fair, though very light, and at four o’clock we were ready to sail. It was, however, between seven and eight before the officer from the guard-ship came on board with the vessel’s pass and my passport. He apologized to me for having made me wait so long, pretending not to have known I was on board this vessel, because my passport did not mention the name of the vessel in which I was to embark. After taking down in his register the name of the vessel and of the captain, her burden, lading, and where bound, he asked the captain and me, saying he was obliged to do so whether we had any Russian money. I had none, contrary to the intent of the law. The captain gave him a five-rouble bill, with which he was well satisfied, and he left the vessel, wishing us a good voyage.

May 15 1814: Opium and Allston

 

On May 15 1814, Samuel Taylor Coleridge writes a second day to John Morgan. His continuing attempts to overcome his opium addiction are discussed. He also discusses the American painter Washington Allston, who had painted the above portrait of Coleridge in 1814.

May 15 1814: Byron Tweet

Lord Byron begins to write his poem Lara. — May 15 1814 pic.twitter.com/fQVrcFnnrf

— pastnow (@pastnow_) May 15, 2014

May 14 1814: Coleridge’s Hell

On May 14 1814, Samuel Taylor Coleridge writes to John Morgan describing his addiction. The letter describes in detail his pain, and the influence of opium on him, together with his attempt to free himself from its grip.

If it could be said with as little appearance of profaneness, as there is feeling or intention in my mind, I might affirm; that I had been crucified, dead and buried, descended into Hell, and am now, I humbly trust, rising again, tho’ slowly and gradually. I thank you from my heart for your far too kind Letter to Mr. Hood – so much of it is true that such as you described I always wished to be. I know, it will be vain to attempt to persuade Mrs Morgan or Charlotte, that a man, whose moral feelings, reason, understanding, and senses are perfectly sane and vigorous, may yet have been mad  – And  yet nothing is more true.