Napoléon Ier (1769-1821) - Lot 97

Lot 97
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Napoléon Ier (1769-1821) - Lot 97
Napoléon Ier (1769-1821) 14 L.S. "Napol," "Nap" or "NP," June 19-July 26, 1812, to Archchancellor CAMBACÉRÈS; the letters are written by Méneval, by Fain (3) or Mounier (1); 6 pages and 9 half-pages in-4. [624-637] Debuts of the Russian campaign. Gumbinnen [Goussev] June 19. "I am today in Gumbinen. I spent yesterday seeing many troops, who are very beautiful"... Gumbinnen June 20. "My health is very good. The Empress tells me from Prague that she is doing well. I intend to leave here tonight"... Wilkowiski [Vilkaviskis] June 22. "My Cousin, I am today at Wilkowiski. I leave this evening, & I will be very close to the borders. The Duke of Bassano will have sent you the communications to be made to the Senate. I am sending you the proclamation to the army for your information. It is necessary that you ignore it, since it would announce an affair soon: it is preferable that it arrives with the first bulletin. [...] I believe that the crossing of the Niemen will take place on the 24th"... Kowno [Kaunas] June 25. "Hostilities have begun. I passed the Niemen and the Vilia, and I took Kowno. There has been no serious business so far. The heat is excessive... Wilna [Vilnius] June 29. "Talk a little to the Minister of Police [Savary] about the serious inconveniences of the measure he has taken to send a surgeon of the state prisons to the Pope. As in matters of this nature, does this minister not consult you? I wanted the Pope to always have his doctor with him and to be treated only by men who had his complete confidence; nothing could therefore be more improper than the sending of this surgeon, and to put it bluntly, however horrible it may be to say it, if the Pope were to die, nothing would give a better pretext for malevolence"... Wilna, July 2. "Business here is going quite well, although after excessive heat we have terrible storms. The water is falling by buckets"... Wilna July 14. "My Cousin, I received your letter of July 2, where I see that the first communications to be made to the Senate arrived to you"... Wilna July 16. "Prince Kurakin's request to send a secretary of legation on the backside was absurd. It was necessary to be careful not to give him any kind of passport"... Gloubokoie July 18. On Barère de Vieuzac. "It has been many years since he sent me notes in this way; I was obliged to forbid him these communications, because he always meddles with questions that he does not know, and he never knows what he is saying. - I arrived here at one o'clock. I am lodged at the Carmelite convent, the country is very beautiful and the harvests are magnificent"... Gloubokoie July 19. "The enemy has evacuated his entrenched camp at Drissa, where he had been working for 6 months. These immense works are in our power and the stores that the enemy had on the right bank of the Dvina have been burned by him. The movement that I made Prince d'Eckmühl [Davout] and Gal Grouchy make on Mohilow and Orcha, are the cause of this hasty retreat. We are finally here in a beautiful country"... Gloubokoie July 21. "Business continues to go well. You will receive tomorrow the 8th bulletin. We have seized the immense entrenched camp of Drissa, which the enemy had worked on for a year without success. Our outposts have passed the Borysthenes and are halfway to Smolensk; already the movement is felt on Moscow. Emperor Alexander was on the 18th in Witepsk. Prince Bagration's Corps is completely cornered"... Kamen July 24. "We are marching on Witepsk. All Russian maneuvers seem to be aimed at covering Moscow & S. Petersburg. Petersburg"... Bechenkovitsky July 25. "You will have received the 9th Bulletin. The connoisseurs will have noticed that it presaged something. They will see that I have lured the enemy out of his entrenched camp and fortified line, without losing a single man. The enemy occupies Witepsk in force. If he dares to wait, it would not be impossible that there would be an important battle within a few days. Prince d'Eckmuhl [Davout] had a battle at Mohiloff on the 23rd. I await the details. We only know that on the 23rd, at 6:00 in the evening, victory was declared in favor of the Pce d'Eckmuhl, and that the enemy's position had been taken. The enemy intended to enter Mohiloff. I am informing you of this for your information, but I wish you to say nothing about it. Today there was a vanguard affair here in which we took 8 cannon and several hundred men. [...] These details presage great events. I am giving them to you to put you in the picture, so that you will know what to expect from the rumors that are circulating and so that you will not have any worries. It is even necessary not to speak about it to the Empress, to whom it is good to be informed.
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