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  LONDON: G. BELL & SONS, LIMITED,
  PORTUGAL STREET, KINGSWAY, W.C.
  CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON, BELL & CO.
  NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO.
  BOMBAY: A.H. WHEELER & CO

THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON I

INCLUDING NEW MATERIALS FROM THE BRITISH OFFICIAL RECORDS

BY JOHN HOLLAND ROSE, LITT.D. LATE SCHOLAR OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

   "Let my son often read and reflect on history: this is the only
   true philosophy."—Napoleon's last Instructions for the King of
    Rome.

VOL, I

LONDON G. BELL AND SONS, LTD.
1910

POST 8VO EDITION, ILLUSTRATED
First Published, December 1901.
Second Edition, revised, March 1902.
Third Edition, revised, January 1903.
Fourth Edition, revised, September 1907.
Reprinted, January 1910.

CROWN 8VO EDITION
First Published, September 1904.
Reprinted, October 1907; July 1910.

DEDICATED TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD ACTON,K.C.V.O., D.C.L., LL.D. REGIUS PROFESSOR OF MODERN HISTORY IN THEUNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, IN ADMIRATION OF HIS PROFOUND HISTORICALLEARNING, AND IN GRATITUDE FOR ADVICE AND HELP GENEROUSLY GIVEN.

PREFACE

An apology seems to be called for from anyone who gives to the world anew Life of Napoleon I. My excuse must be that for many years I havesought to revise the traditional story of his career in the light offacts gleaned from the British Archives and of the many valuablematerials that have recently been published by continental historians.To explain my manner of dealing with these sources would require anelaborate critical Introduction; but, as the limits of my spaceabsolutely preclude any such attempt, I can only briefly refer to themost important topics.

To deal with the published sources first, I would name as of chiefimportance the works of MM. Aulard, Chuquet, Houssaye, Sorel, andVandal in France; of Herren Beer, Delbrück, Fournier, Lehmann, Oncken,and Wertheimer in Germany and Austria; and of Baron Lumbroso in Italy.I have also profited largely by the scholarly monographs orcollections of documents due to the labours of the "Société d'HistoireContemporaine," the General Staff of the French Army, of MM. Bouvier,Caudrillier, Capitaine "J.G.," Lévy, Madelin, Sagnac, Sciout, Zivy,and others in France; and of Herren Bailleu, Demelitsch, Hansing,Klinkowstrom, Luckwaldt, Ulmann, and others in Germany. Some of therecently published French Memoirs dealing with those times are notdevoid of value, though this class of literature is to be used withcaution. The new letters of Napoleon published by M. Léon Lecestre andM. Léonce de Brotonne have also opened up fresh vistas into the lifeof the great man; and the time seems to have come when we may safelyrevise our judgments on many of its episodes.

But I should not have ventured on this great undertaking, had I notbeen able to contribute something new to Napoleonic literature. Duringa study of this period for an earlier work published in the "CambridgeHistorical Series," I ascertained the great value of the Britishrecords for the years 1795-1815. It is surely discreditable to ourhistorical research that, apart from the fruitful labours of the NavyRecords Society, of Messrs. Oscar Browning and

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