Produced by Turgut Dincer, Charlie Howard, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) NAPOLEON [Illustration] [Illustration: _Napoleon._ _From a portrait by Lassalle._] NAPOLEON A Sketch of HIS LIFE, CHARACTER, STRUGGLES, AND ACHIEVEMENTS BY THOMAS E. WATSON AUTHOR OF “THE STORY OF FRANCE,” ETC. _ILLUSTRATED WITH PORTRAITS AND FACSIMILES_ New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. 1903 _All rights reserved_ COPYRIGHT, 1902, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped February, 1902. Reprinted May, 1902; January, 1903. Norwood Press J. S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith Norwood Mass. U.S.A. TO MY WIFE Georgia Durham Watson PREFACE In this volume the author has made the effort to portray Napoleon as he appears to an average man. Archives have not been rummaged, new sources of information have not been discovered; the author merely claims to have used such authorities, old and new, as are accessible to any diligent student. No attempt has been made to give a full and detailed account of Napoleon’s life or work. To do so would have required the labor of a decade, and the result would be almost a library. The author _has_ tried to give to the great Corsican his proper historical position, his true rating as a man and a ruler,--together with a just estimate of his achievements. THOMSON, GEORGIA, Dec. 24, 1901. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. CORSICA 1 II. BOYHOOD 17 III. LIEUTENANT 37 IV. REVOLUTION 47 V. RETURNS HOME 58 VI. FIRST SERVICE 70 VII. AT MARSEILLES 86 VIII. 13TH OF VENDÉMIAIRE 94 IX. THE YOUNG REPUBLIC 115 X. JOSEPHINE 123 XI. THE ARMY OF ITALY 135 XII. MILAN 148 XIII. MANTUA 159 XIV. CAMPO FORMIO 175 XV. JOSEPHINE AT MILAN 188 XVI. EGYPT 196 XVII. THE SIEGE OF ACRE 211 XVIII. THE RETURN TO FRANCE 221