English Caricature and Satire on Napoleon I. Volume 2 (of 2)Ashton, John
History
English Caricature and Satire on Napoleon I. Volume 2 (of 2)
Ashton, John
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821 -- Caricatures and cartoons
‘Then at Marengo, on the evening of the Victory, he saw, standing
before him, the Red Man, who said to him:
‘“Thou shalt see the world at thy feet, and thou shalt be Emperor of
the French, King of Italy, Master of Holland, Sovereign of Spain,
Portugal, the Illyrian Provinces, Protector of Germany, Saviour of
Poland, First Eagle of the Legion of Honour.”
‘This Red Man, do you see, was his idea, his own: a kind of lackey, who
helped him, as many say, to communicate with his star. I, myself, have
never believed that but the Red Man is a veritable fact, and Napoleon
has spoken of him himself, and has said that he visits him in troublous
moments, and that he stays at the palace of the Tuileries, in the upper
apartments. Then at his Coronation, Napoleon saw him, in the evening,
for the third time, and they were in deliberation about many things.
Then the Emperor went straight to Milan to crown himself King of
Italy....
‘At length we found ourselves, one morning, encamped at Moskowa.[37]
It was there that I gained the Cross, and I take the liberty of saying
that it was a cursed battle! The Emperor was uneasy: he had seen the
Red Man, who said to him:
‘“My child, thou art going too fast, men will fail thee, and friends
will betray thee.”’
And the old soldier, almost at the end of his story, says, ‘The
remainder is sufficiently well known. The Red Man passed over to the
Bourbons, like a scoundrel, as he is. France is crushed,’ &c.
It is needless to say that this legend was known in England, and was
not lost sight of by the satirist.
[Illustration: NAPOLEON AND THE RED MAN.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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