YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

GIFT OF
FREDERICK SHELDON PARKER
B.A.j LL.B.
YALE 1873

ANECDOTES

©F

GENERAL BUONAPARTE,

COMPILED FROM

ORIGINAL and AUTHENTIC PAPERS.

TO THE PUBLIC.

JL HE Idea of annexing a fhort biogra
phical Account to the engraved Portrait of
General Buonaparte was propofed with a
view to eftablifh the propriety of the Em
blems by which it is accompanied. An op
portunity that afterwards occurred of ob
taining, from authentic Papers the Proofs
neceffary for this . purpofe, decided the In
tention. The Pidture from which the pre-
fent Engraving is taken was painted, at Ve
rona, in February 1796 by Signor F. Cof-
iia, an eminent Artift of that place. Sub
joined are tranflated Extradts from a letter
written by the Painter to his friend at Mi
lan, through whom Coffia was employed
on the oecafion, and by r whom the Pidture
was forwarded to England. a a Should

( 4 )
Should any perfons be difpofed to look
on this Publication as undertaken from
party motives, they will do great injuftice
to the Writer, who is an enthufiaftic ad
mirer of the Britifh Conftitution and of
the illuftrious Monarch whofe many Virtues
give fplendour to the Throne of thefe King
doms. May \<)th, 1798.

TRANSLATION.
" Sirt ¦'¦ !
"With this you will receive the
Portrait of the Illuftrious Buonaparte^ which
I hope will prove as agreeable to the Lady as
to you my dear Friend, who have procured
me the Honour of this pleafing Commiflion.
All thofe who have feen it flatter me fo
much as to make me think it a great refem-
blance. You Gentlemen of Milan will
equally afcertain it — and give your Judg
ment. If the fhortnefs of the time had not
prevented me, I fliould have attempted
fomething more worthy of the fubjedt. —
As to the drefs, I have done nothing more than

( s )
than fhown the form of the Buft — a Frock
with a White collar, and lining, with an
Epaulette on the left Shoulder was the Uni
form of the Day, and is (as 1 have been
told) the Drefs of the Field — perhaps at
Milan you have feen him in a General's
Uniform. The 14th, at noon, he arrived
with his fuiteof more than two hundred
horfe in this Town, and as a report was
fpread of his fetting out immediately for
Baffano, I refolved to write him a Note in-
treating leave to fpeak to him. — I fent him.
the packet of Madame Buonaparte, telling
him I fhould not ftir from Home without
his order — foon after, one of his Adju
tants came with a Gentleman of this
Town, with an Invitation from the Gene
ral, who did me the Honour to afk me to
dine with him. The Officer advifed me
to take my pencil, in order to take his
Likenefs as well as I could, becaufe he
could not give me more than half an hour
before and after dinner. I anfwered I could
do it as well on Canvafs as on Paper, if
he would allow me two Sittings.
" Having packed up my Box of Colours,
I went with thofe Gentlemen to General
a 3 Buonaparte,

( ° )
Buonaparte, who received me with great
politenefs and goodnefs, and told me he was
Very forry that his immediate departure
would not allow him to do juftice to my
Abilities — -nor to the Perfon who afked for
his Pidture — but as it was to comply with
the commands1 of a Lady for whom he had
a great efteem, he would force time and
make impoffibility poffible. Then aflcing
me to make ufe of the few moments that
remained before Dinner, I quickly began the
Portrait which you fee j — at a quarter paft
two o'clock I had laid in the Head and
figure, and at three o'clock the Dinner be
ing finifhed, I again began to paint, with
good Spirits* — becaufe I faw that they were
much pleafed with the work already done.
As I had ufed a great deal of drying oil, I
found that the Colours of the head began
to fink — fo that I could paint over it with
out inconvenience ; and in little more than an
hour I was able to fix the Phifiognomy cor-
redtly, with the expreffion of thought which
I know to be a trait of his Charadter. At
laft, and when the hour of departure came,
I took Courage to afk permiffio'n to follow
him to Vicenza and to Baffano — in order to
give a few more touches to the Head, and
give

( 7 )
give it a finifhed appearance. His anfwer
was, that nothing was more eafy ; that he
fhould flop fome time at one or the other
of thofe places, and that I might go * with
him in his Chaife, which would be fafe
both in going and returning. We departed,
and arrived at San Bonifizio, betwixt the
Mountains of Caldeiro and Monte Bello,
where a noife from the Summit would have
made me tremble if I had not been in fuch
good Company. Two Couriers, two Offi
cers, with fifteen Dragoons, came to us, fent
by General Maffena (who was at Baffano)
with important difpatches for General Buo
naparte. We alighted, and a few minutes
after the General told me I might go to
fleep till morning; but knowing there was
much to do before we fet out, and that
after having breakfafted he would give me
the laft fitting, I got up at fun-rife — tired
at not having flept a moment from the
noife of horfes who were continually com
ing and going. — Having prepared every
thing as well as I could I went into the
Room and found many Officers breakfaft-
ing according to the Cuftoms of their
Country — a little after I went to do the
fame — and found the General very gay and
a 4 affable.

( 8 )
affable. — I was going to begin my work,
when there arrived an Officer and ten
Dragoons — once more the General began
to write and to difpatch Officers and Cou
riers ; at laft I did what the circumftances
allowed — and before I had permiffion to
go the General had ordered a chaife to con
duct me to Verona with an efcort of four
men on horfeback. — In fhort, this is an
account of my Campaign with the French.
" I thought it neceffary to give you an ac
count of all this, that you might excuse me
to the Lady — and to thofe who expedited
more and better from a Venetian Painter."

ANEC-

ANECDOTES,

d

S

IGNOR Carlo Buonaparte, father to
the Hero of thefe pages, was of noble birth
in the Ifland of Corfica and poffeffed a good
Eftate in Ajaccio, on its weftern coaftj
where the family ufually refided. He
bore arms again ft the French in fupport of
the Liberty of his country* but finally
fiabmitted to the yoke, not being allowed*
as many others were, to follow his friend
General de Paoli-*; Some years after j he,
* The warmth of his attachment to the General
continued, however, after their Separation, and hav
ing at one time difcovered a Plot of the French Cabinet
tb-have General de Paoli aflaflinated in England, he
quitted Corfica and went into Tufcany, in fearch of
fome Englifh Traveller to whom he might confide the
fecret warning. The prefent Lord Dunftainville was
the confidential Bearer of this Intelligence.
A 5 wais

( io )
was eledted a Deputy of the Corfican Nobi-.
lity to the late King of France, and died
before the French Revolution, being at that
time Procurator of his native town.
General Napoleano Buonaparte*, the fe-
cond Son of this gentleman, was born it\
the year 1767 at Corte, a central town in
the Ifland of Corfica, a temporary resi
dence of the family. He was early fent
by his Parents to the Military Academy in
Paris, where none but thofe of Noble birth
were admitted, and from which fuch as
manifefted the greateft ability were always
chofen for the Artillery. , To every branch
of .the Military art, Buonaparte Showed a,
ftrong partiality, as well as for the Claffics,
Plutarqh in particular was-' fo great a favour
ite as to be his'conftant companion, and, at
a very early period, he began a work on the
fame plan, containing the Lives of fuch of
his countrymen as had diftinguifhed them-
felves in the noble, though unYuccefsful,
* The true orthography of this Name is certainly
Bonaparte ; but as all his difpatches that have been
published have the Dipthong, and as this point was not
appertained till after the engraving of the Portrait and
accompaniments, it has been adopted here. ft niggles

( I* )
ftruggles for Corfican. Independence. While
he was at this Seminary, and quite a boy,
he obtained- permiffion to witnefs the af-
Cent of the firft of Mongolfier's Balloons,
that was announced tp carry a human being
into the regions of the clouds. The con-
templation of fo bold an undertaking filled
his young mind with ambition to fhare iri
the glory it promifed, and he made the,
moft preffing folieitatipns for permiffion to
afcend. His entreaties, however, being
rejedted, and being jealous that any other
fhould enjoy a diftindtion denied to him,
he drew his fword, and cut open the Bal
loon, to the great aftpnifhmen^ an^ vexa
tion of- the. crowds affembled on the occa
sion*. ] .\)r . •.
The precife time of Buonaparte's en
trance into the Army could not be afcer-
tained; but it is certain that in 1790 he
was a Lieutenant in a Corps of Artillery
then ftationed at Valence in Dauphine, and
that he was foon after made Captain
in the fame Corps. In this year General
* This anecdote is given on the authority of fome
very refpe&able Emigrants now jn England.

f ri )
de Paoli returned through France to his na
tive country and was accompanied by Buona
parte (his Godfon); who though fo youn£
contributed more than any other to extend
the French Revolution to Corfica. Early
in 1^93 he was eledted Lieutenant Colonel
Commandant of a Corfican corps of Na
tional Guards then bn duty in Ajaccio, and
in the month of Aprils while adting in this
capacity, he ventured to refift the ordersi
and even the arms, of the Commander of
the place who, as well as the French officers
then with him, were violent partifaris of the
oid defpotie fyftem. They excited & riot irt
the place", through their own agents,' and
under this pretence made an attempt, though
unfuccefsfully, to drive him and his Corps
from their ftatiom
Their fcheme having failed; it was deter-
mined to bring him to a Court Martial for
difdbedience to a fuperior officer, and like-
wife on fufpicion of being the author of art
addtefs to the French foldiers in cbnfequence
of which they abfolutely refufed to turn
their arms againft the Corficans. On this
becafion Buonaparte would certainly have
beenfacrificed, but that the real author of
3 the

{ *3 )
the addrefs came forwards and thus difap-
pointed the malice of his enemies. After
this he went to Paris to bring home his eldeft
fifter from the abolifhed convent of St. Cyre,
where fhe had been educated, and on his
return received a fevere wound from an
officer, of his own corps of artillery, for
no other reafon than his being attached to the
principles of the Revolution.
In the beginning of 1793 he went fecpnd
in command of one of the two divifions of
fhe French army deftined to adt againft Sar
dinia. The firft under the Corfican General
Cafabianca was to make a defcent on the
fouth of the Ifland near Cagliari, while the
other was diredted to invade the north, under
the orders of Colonna Cefari, likewife a
Corfican. Buonaparte made good a landing,
and took poffeffion of the Ifland Magdalena
which lies in the Channel between Corfica
and Sardinia, where he had a new oppor
tunity of fhowing his courage and ability.
For the French foldiers and failors that ac
companied him, not having been ufed to the
ftridt difcipline he required, rofe into mutiny
as foon as they had landed him and his own
corps, and ftood out to fea. In this difjcult
fituation,

( M- )
iituation, however, the General maintained
himfelf with his fmall band till the mutineers
fo far returned to a fenfe of duty as to ap
proach the Ifland once more and take him
and his companions on board.
On his return from this unfuccefsful ex
pedition*, he joined with great warmth in
the univerfal indignation excited in his
countrymen by a decree of the French Con
vention againft General de Paoli -f. All the
conftituted authorities of the Ifland lint re-
monftrances to France for the repeal of this
decree, and that, fent by the Municipality of
Ajaccio was written by General Buonaparte.
In it he dwelt much on the abfurdity of fup-
pofing that General de Paoli would ftain his
high character by contributing to reftore the
Defpotifm of the French Monarchy under
which he had fuffered an exile of twenty
years, and pointed out the improbability
that, after a long refidence in England, he
fhould be fo far ignorant of the principles
of honour and independence entertained by
that nation as to think of purchafing an in-
* The event of this attempt made by the French on
Sardinia is well known and need not be here ftated.
¦f Pafled in April of this year, 1793.
2 creafe

( '5 )
creafe of its efteem by an adt of treafon to
his country.
In fpite of thefe inftances of a noble mind
in Buonaparte, the intrigues of a man, who
had formerly been fupported and cloathed
by his father, raifed the popular indignation
againft him, and he, together with the
whole of his family, was forced to quit
Ajaccio for fear of being feized and impri-
foned, as had been already attempted. They
took refuge in the fmall town of Calir, ftill
poffeffed by the French, and thence paffed
to Toulon *.
The Englifh foon after this having made
themfelves mafters of Toulon, Buonaparte,
in the fiege of that place which followed,
was charged with the direction of the artil
lery, and contributed in no fmall degree to
the final evacuation of it by the Britifh
forces. After the recovery of Toulon he
was fent to the army of Italy as Adjutant
General, where, not being of a difpofition
* The report of Buonaparte having, while in Cor
fica, made an offer of his fervice to the Britifh Go
vernment is wholly untrue. to

( '6 )
to execute the enormities required by the
French Government, then under Robe-
fpierre, he rendered himfelf fufpedted, and
was, confequently, recalled and arrefted.
He, however, efcaped the guillotine by the
death of this monfter *, whofe bloody reign
makes us look on the crimes of Nero and
Domitian with diminifhed horror.
From that period he remained wholly in
active till September 1795, when the Infur-
redtion of the Sedtions gave him an oppor
tunity to exhibit his military talents even in
Paris. General Gentili^f, who was charged
with the Defence of the Convention on the
night of 'its being attacked, declined it on
account of a deafnefs which then affected
him, and Buonaparte was chofen in his
place. In this fituation he conducted him
felf with fuch ability that General Barras,
in his report tp the Convention ,the next
morning, told them it was owing to the
military talents of Buonaparte that they were
in fafety. In confequence of this, when
Barras was elected into the Directory, the
* July 1794
t A Corfican, well known in England.
Com-

( >7 )
Command of the Parifian Army was given
to the Defender of the Convention.
The tranfadtions of Buonaparte after he
left this command for that in Italy are well
known to the world. He has evinced the
talents of a great General by a feries of un
interrupted fucceffes againft the beft ap
pointed armies the Emperor of Germany
ever fent into the field, and though his
force was generally inferior he made up the
deficiency by the vigour and promptitude of
his operations. One great and important
benefit has refulted to mankind from thefe
victories of Buonaparte, in the deftrudtion
of the Papal Dominion; and, though the
fufferings of individuals muft always be re
gretted, the lovers of Pure Chriftianity will
rejoice to fee hurled from the rock of its
fancied fecurity a power which has for cen
turies debafed the minds of furrounding
nations by its fetters, and blafphemed the
Deity by its fuperftitions and its hypocrify.
He has likewife been concerned in many
negociations which have all terminated to
the advantage of his Government, and it is
no inconfiderable proof of his addrefs the
having managed to conclude preliminary Articles

( *8 )
Articles of Pacification between the Emperor
and France at a time when, by the fucceffes
of the Counts Laudhon and Meerfelt, a
delay of a few days might have laid Buona
parte and his army at the mercy of the
Auftrian Prince Charles.
General Buonaparte is of a ferious dif-
pofition, referved as to his defigns but prompt
and vigorous in executing them. That he
maintained a high difcipline in his army is
proved no lefs by various teftimonies than
by the atrocities committed in Italy fince he
left the command, and he punifhed with the
greateft feverity every one, not excepting his
brother, againft whom any juft complaints
were made. The humanity of his character
was manifefted towards the unfortunate
French Emigrants who fell into his hands,
many of whom were fupplied with money
from his private purfe, others through his
interference were permitted to return to
France, and the priefts.and friars were by
his orders admitted into the Italian convents
and fupported by them. His love for the
arts has been proved by his wifti to obtain
their moft valuable productions for his
adopted country, while his favourite tafte for

( 19 )
for the claflics induced him earneftly to fo-
licit thofe manufcript copies of many claffi-
cal authors which were collected and revifed
by the celebrated Petrarch. The great con-
fideration with which he has uniformly
treated all profeffors of the arts and fciences
is univerfally known.
That a man endowed like Buonaparte
fhould have joined from principle in the
French Revolution at its commencement is
perfectly to be looked for, as that event
feemed calculated to promote the happinefs
of a great and populous nation, but it will
remain for fome future biographer to fhow by
what inducements fuch a character could be
prevailed on to give the moft extenfive fup-
< port to a Government that has broke through
every law by which civilized nations feel
themfelves bound, even in the times of their
greateft inveteracy, that has conftantly vio
lated the moft facred principles of juftice in
its own country — a Government whofe ob-
jedts are devaftation and plunder, and which
has aftoniflied and paralized Europe by the
magnitude of its ambition and its crimes.
FINIS.

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