Lot n° 72
Estimation :
12000 - 15000
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 38 855EUR
Napoléon Ier (1769-1821)
29 L.S. "Napol", "Napoleon" or "Nap", one with autograph correction, and 2 unsigned letters, Osterode February 23-March 26, 1807to Archchancellor CAMBACÉRÈS; the letters are written by Méneval (one by Fain); 29 pages and 12 half-pages in-4.
[307-331, 333-338]
Sejour a Osterode before the resumption of the Polish campaign. At the head of the majority of the letters, Cambaceres noted: "to copy entirely".
February 23. "I saw with pleasure that you have fun in Paris, that you go to the masked ball"... 25 February. "I have forbidden that in the Swiss regiments one receives foreigners. However, one is enraged to receive Prussians and even Russians there. Thus, my enemies are put under arms. This system is too ridiculous. See Minister Dejean and the Minister of Police, and let measures be taken so that no foreigners are admitted into these regiments. It is quite simple that I rely on the Swiss who are known by their fidelity, and not on my enemies. This object is very important"... 28 February. "Have a review made of all the depots of my Guard, & have departed for Mayence what is available and in a condition to make war, either in infantry, or in cavalry, or in artillery. The infantry will go on post to Mayence. Let me know where the organization of the 2nd regiment of the riflemen of my Guard is"... March 2. "We have nothing new here. Spring seems to be starting.
The snow has melted". Then he mentions the case of a criminal "missed by the executioner", which provoked a "popular movement"... March 4. "The weather is like spring. The ambassadors of Persia and the Porte have arrived in Warsaw"... 5 March. He complains about notes in the Moniteur: "My project was never to go to Koenigsberg. It is also said that I command my vanguard.
All this is nonsense. I beg you to let only the bulletins appear in the Moniteur, or at most to say that we have received news and that we have had successes, that we are waiting for the details. [...] BERTHIER writes from the middle of a battlefield, tired, and does not expect his bills to be printed. [...] My troops are still stationed behind the
Passarge. The city of Elbing provides us with quite a lot of help"... March 6. "We are organizing ourselves in our cantonments and we are taking a little rest, until the season makes the roads practicable for us.
It seems that the Russians wanted to cross the Danube, & that the
Turks obtained an advantage over them and forced them to cross it again"... - It has snowed again. It is certain that the Turks had an advantage over the Russians. The latter wanted to cross the Danube; but the detachment they had sent to the right bank was massacred by the Turks"... March 8. "I see that you have received the first news of the battle of Eylau. We have nothing new here, except for some affairs of cavalry and posts where we constantly have the advantage"... - He makes him carry "the flags taken at the battle of Eylau. These flags are intended to be placed in the temple which is going to be made; I leave you the master to do for the reception of these flags what you will judge suitable"...
March 11. "The loss that we experienced at the battle of Eylau, such as it is carried in the bulletin, is rather exaggerated than attenuated. It turns out to be three thousand wounded and fifteen hundred dead. If the harvest is bad, "it is necessary to forbid any exit of grain"... March 12. "The days begin to grow longer & the sun begins to appear. - BERTHIER claims that he did not put in his letter that we would be in Koenigsberg the next day, & that it was wrong to put this in the Moniteur. It is a very singular thing that when I warn not to print anything until the bulletin has arrived, I cannot be obeyed. It was quite simple to say that there was good news. Since I did not give any details, I had my reasons. It never entered my plans to enter Koenigsberg"... March 13. "The weather has turned cold again. It is freezing by three degrees, but the day is very beautiful. There is nothing important, small business of outposts that have nothing important. A regiment of Russian housards approached the billet of the 69th at night yesterday, which lured them into an ambush and killed 80 men. We are taking a little rest.
I am using this time to secure my supplies, to surround Dantzick and to make preparations for the siege. - It seems that in Paris people have very false ideas about our losses; on the contrary, they have been exaggerated. It appears from the Intendant General's report that the number of wounded, which is given in the bulletin as 5700, is only 4300; and according to the report of the corps, the number of dead, instead of 1900, is only 1500. You are strange people in Paris. I would like
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