Part 21 (1/2)

LETTER XX

PARIS, October, 1805

MY LORD:--The insatiable avarice of all the members of the Bonaparte family has already and frequently been mentioned; some of our philosophers, however, pretend that ambition and vanity exclude from the mind of Napoleon Bonaparte the passion of covetousness; that he pillages only to get money to pay his military plunderers, and hoards treasures only to purchase slaves, or to recompense the associates and instruments of his authority

Whether their assertions be just or not, I will not take upon reat numentation of the Imperial and royal domains; from the immense and valuable quantity of diamonds, jewels, pictures, statues, libraries, museums, etc, disinterestedness and self-denial are certainly not a Napoleon's virtues

In France, he not only disposes of all the forreatly increased theht by the Imperial Treasury, or confiscated by Imperial decrees In Italy, he has, by an official act, declared to be the property of his crown, first, the royal palace at Milan, and a royal villa, which he now calls Villa Bonaparte; second, the palace of Monza and its dependencies; third, the palace of Mantua, the palace of The, and the ci-devant ducal palace of Modena; fourth, a palace situated in the vicinity of Brescia, and another palace in the vicinity of Bologna; fifth, the ci-devant ducal palaces of Parma and Placenza; sixth, the beautiful forest of Tesin Ten millions were, besides, ordered to be drawn out of the Royal Treasury at Milan to purchase lands for the forrounds, etc

To these are added all the royal palaces and dos of Sardinia, of the Dukes of Brabant, of the Counts of Flanders, of the German Electors, Princes, Dukes, Counts, Barons, etc, who, before the last ere Sovereigns on the right bank of the Rhine I have seen a list, according to which the nu to Napoleon as E, are stated to be seventy-nine; so that he e his habitations six ti the same year the same palace, and, nevertheless, always sleep at home

In this number are not included the private chateaux and estates of the Empress, or those of the Princes and Princesses Bonaparte Madame Napoleon has purchased, since her husband's consulate, in her own name, or in the name of her children, nine estates with their chateaux, four national forests, and six hotels at Paris Joseph Bonaparte possesses four estates and chateaux in France, three hotels at Paris and at Brussels, three chateaux and estates in Italy, and one hotel at Milan, and another at Turin Lucien Bonaparte has now re only one hotel at Paris, another at Bonne, and a third at Chauedoc, and one in the vicinity of this capital

At Bologna, Ferrara, Florence, and Rome, he has his own hotels, and in the Papal States he has obtained, in exchange for property in France, three chateaux with their dependencies Louis Bonaparte has three hotels at Paris, one at Cologne, one at Strasburg, and one at Lyons He has two estates in Flanders, three in Burgundy, one in Franche-Coues from this city At Genoa he has a beautiful hotel, and upon the Genoese territory a large estate

He has bought three plantations at Martinico, and two at Guadeloupe To Jerome Bonaparte has hitherto been presented only an estate in Brabant, and a hotel in this capital Soe, in the Batavian Republic, have been purchased by the agents of our Government, and are said to be intended for him

But, while Napoleon Bonaparte has thus heaped wealth on his wife and his brothers, his lected or left unprovided for Madame Bonaparte, his mother, has one hotel at Paris, one at Turin, one at Milan, and one at Rome Her estates in France are four, and in Italy two Madame Bacciochi, Princess of Piombino and Lucca, possesses two hotels in this capital, and one palace at Piombino and another at Lucca Of her estates in France, she has only retained two, but she has three in the Kingdom of Italy, and four in her husband's and her own dominions The Princess Santa Cruce possesses one hotel at Rome and four chateaux in the papal territory At Milan she has, as well as at Turin and at Paris, hotels given her by her Iether with two estates in France, one in Piedmont, and two in Lombardy The Princesse Murat is mistress of two hotels here, one at Brussels, one at Tours, and one at Bordeaux, together with three estates on this, and five on the other side of the Alps The Princesse Borghese has purchased three plantations at Guadeloupe, and two at Martinico, with a part of the treasures left her by her first husband, Leclerc With her present husband she received two palaces at Rome, and three estates on the Roman territory; and her Imperial brother has presented her with one hotel at Paris, one at Cologne, one at Turin, and one at Genoa, together with three estates in France and five in Italy For his mother, and for each of his sisters, Napoleon has also purchased estates, or lands to form estates, in their native island of Corsica

The other near or distant relatives of the E have also experienced his bounty Cardinal Fesch has his hotels at Paris, Milan, Lyons, Turin, and Rome; with estates both in France and Italy Seventeen, either first, second, or third cousins, by his father's or mother's side, have all obtained estates either in the French Edom of Italy, as well as all brothers, sisters, or cousins of his oife, and the wives of his brothers, or of the husbands of his sisters Their exact nu been collecting materials for some future history of the House of Bonaparte, and of the French Empire, has already shown me sixty-six names of individuals of that description, and of both sexes, who all, thanks to the Imperial liberality, have suddenly and unexpectedly become people of property

When you consider that all these immense riches have been seized and distributed within the short period of five years, it is not hazardous to say that, in the annals of Europe, another such revolution in property, as well as in power, is not to be found

The wealth of the faether does not amount to half the value of what the Bonapartes have acquired and possess

Your country, more than any other upon earth, has to be alarmed at this revolution of property Richer than any other nation, you have more to apprehend; besides, it threatens you more, both as our frequent eneainst our plans of universal dominion, and as our superiors in pecuniary resources May we never live to see the day when the mandates of Bonaparte or Talleyrand are honoured at London, as at Aes to coard as cos of their forefathers It is not probable that those who have so successfully pillaged all surrounding States will rest contented until you are involved in the sa yourselves only can preserve you fro in the universal wreck; by this you will at least gain ties and unexpected accidents

LETTER XXI

PARIS, October, 1805

MY LORD:--The Counsellor of State and intendant of the Ieneral of our army in Germany the immense sum of six millions of livres--which was divided between Madame Bonaparte (the mother), Madame Napoleon Bonaparte, Princesse Louis Bonaparte, Princesse Murat and the Princesse Borghese By this you may conclude in what manner we intend to treat the wretched inhabitants of the other side of the Rhine This Daru is too good a calculator and too fond of reat fortune, made entirely by his arithmetical talents, which have enabled hi-banks on the Continent, where he has travelled for no other purpose On his return here, he becaamesters, who offered him an annuity of one hundred thousand livres--not to play; but as this sum would have been deducted from what is weekly paid to Fouche, this Minister sent hi-table, under pain of being transported to Cayenne He obeyed, but the bankers soon experienced that he had deputies, and for fear that even froht forward his calculations hither, Fouche recommended him, for a small douceur, to the office of an intendant of Bonaparte's civil list, upon condition of never, directly or indirectly, injuring our gaard to France, buttour in Italy and Germany, which, he avows, produced him nine millions of livres He always points, but never keeps a bank He begins to be so well known in many parts of the Continent, that the instant he arrives all banks are shut up, and remain so until his departure This was the case at Florence last April

He travels always in style, accompanied by two ion of Honour

He will, however, have soreat profit by his calculations in Gerenerals are better acquainted than he with the country, where their extortions and dilapidations have been felt and laereau, Bernadotte, Ney, Van Da been the terror of the Germans and the reproach of France

In a former letter I have introduced to you our Field-ereau may justly be called an elder revolutionary brother--like hi as a common soldier before the Revolution But he has this an his political career as a police spy, and finished his first n countries, in , he was also again taken and again flogged Italy has, indeed, since he has been eneral, been more the scene of his devastations than Geret the thousands he butchered, and thewith blood, and stained with huiven to sanctity, to ornaers of an assassin, or decorate the boso 1796 and 1797, in Italy, are too nuusting to relate, and too enormous and too improbable to be believed He frequently transformed the temples of the divinity into brothels for prostitution; and virgins who had consecrated themselves to remain unpolluted servants of a God, he bayoneted into dens of iacy; and in these aboust, 1797, on his way to Paris to take co September, hunted away or iislative body, he paid a prostitute, hoht at Pavia, with a draft for fifty louis d'or on the municipality of that toho dared not dishonour it; but they kept the draft, and in 1799 handed it over to Gendral Melas, who sent it to Vienna, where I saw the very original

The general and grand officer of Bonaparte's Legion of Honour, Van Damme, is another of our military heroes of the same stamp A barber, and son of a Flemish barber, he enlisted as a soldier, robbed, and was condee preserved hied by the public executioner, and dooalley-slave for life The Revolution broke his fetters, eneral; but the first use he e, his benefactor, to be guillotined, and to appropriate to hiru, and dishonoured by Moreau, for his ferocity and plunder in Holland and Germany; but Bonaparte restored him to rank and confidence; and by a douceur of twelve hundred thousand livres--properly applied and divided between some of the overnor at Lille, and a commander-in-chief of the ci-devant Flanders In landed property, in jewels, in amount in the funds, and in ready money (he always keeps, froold), his riches aht alley-slave, you rant this is a very modest sum

LETTER XXII