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07 - Story of Napoleon by Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall · Story of Napoleon

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  Speaker 1: Chapter seven the Story of Napoleon, but Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by
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  Speaker 1: Patrick Seville. Chapter seven Napoleon in Spain. Besides fighting with Britain,
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  Speaker 1: Napoleon tried to conquer our islands by ruining our trade.
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  Speaker 1: He forbade all countries on the continent to trade with Britain.
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  Speaker 1: But in spite of Napoleon's orders, Portugal went on trading
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  Speaker 1: with Britain. Now, soon after Napoleon returned from Tilsit, he
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  Speaker 1: sent a message to the Prince Regent of Portugal telling
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  Speaker 1: him that he must stop trading with Britain, must seize
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  Speaker 1: all British goods and property in Portugal, and declare war
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  Speaker 1: on Britain. If he did not do all this, Napoleon
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  Speaker 1: threatened that he would declare war with Portugal. Portugal is
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  Speaker 1: only a little country, quite unable to stand against such
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  Speaker 1: a powerful conquerors Napoleon. So the Prince region agreed to
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  Speaker 1: all that was asked, except the seizing of British goods,
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  Speaker 1: that he would not do. Then Napoleon prepared to fight. France,
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  Speaker 1: at this time had hardly a navy. Napoleon had not
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  Speaker 1: enough ships in which to send his troops by sea.
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  Speaker 1: To make war in Portugal, he had to pass through Spain.
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  Speaker 1: So now he made a secret treaty with the King
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  Speaker 1: of Spain, by which his troops were to be allowed
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  Speaker 1: to pass through that country. And when, by the help
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  Speaker 1: of Spanish soldiers, he had conquered Portugal, he promised to
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  Speaker 1: divide it with Spain. The Kingdom of Portugal was at
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  Speaker 1: this time ruled by a regent. The Queen Maria the
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  Speaker 1: First was mad and her son, Prince John, ruled for her. Now,
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  Speaker 1: when the regent heard that Napoleon was gathering an army
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  Speaker 1: to fight him, he made up his mind to leave
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  Speaker 1: the war to Britain and take his poor mad mother
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  Speaker 1: away to Brazil, which was then a Portuguese colony. So
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  Speaker 1: one wet and cold November morning, the Queen and Prince
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  Speaker 1: and many of the nobles set sail, leaving a sad
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  Speaker 1: and morning people behind. Meanwhile, Napoleon had gathered a large
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  Speaker 1: army at Bayonne, a strongly fortified town close to the Pyrenees,
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  Speaker 1: but on the French side of them. This army, under
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  Speaker 1: Marshal Jennau, now came marching quickly through Spain to Lisbond,
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  Speaker 1: the capital of Portugal. They crossed the Pyrenees, which, next
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  Speaker 1: to the Alps, are the highest mountains in Europe. Over
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  Speaker 1: the windswept plain, they came across rivers, down rugged valleys
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  Speaker 1: by muddy tracks which could scarcely be called roads. The
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  Speaker 1: men were weary, but Janeaux urged them onward. The land
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  Speaker 1: was barren and bare, and they had often hardly enough
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  Speaker 1: to eat for. As was usual with Napoleon's armies, they
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  Speaker 1: carried no supplies with them, but trusted to finding what
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  Speaker 1: they needed in the land they passed through. I will
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  Speaker 1: not have the march kept back because of supplies, said
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  Speaker 1: the Emperor. Twenty thousand men can find food anywhere, even
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  Speaker 1: in a desert. Most of the soldiers in this army
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  Speaker 1: were mere boys, raw recruits, unused to such hardships. Many
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  Speaker 1: of them dropped out of the ranks, overcome with weariness,
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  Speaker 1: and were left by the wayside to die. At last.
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  Speaker 1: Little more than a month after they had set out
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  Speaker 1: from Bayonne, they arrived footsore, hungry, and ragged at Lisbond.
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  Speaker 1: Too late. The ship carrying the Queen and Prince was
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  Speaker 1: already far out to sea. The royal family had escaped,
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  Speaker 1: but the French took possession of the country. There was
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  Speaker 1: little fighting. Had there been in the Portuguese army, even
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  Speaker 1: a handful of bold and resolute men, and may have
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  Speaker 1: gone ill with Geno's raw and worn out soldiers, but
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  Speaker 1: there were none such everywhere. The French pulled down the
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  Speaker 1: royal arms of Portugal and set those of Napoleon up.
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  Speaker 1: Many of the Portuguese soldiers were sent away to France,
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  Speaker 1: so that they might not have a chance of fighting
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  Speaker 1: for their country, even if a leaders should appear. The
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  Speaker 1: Portuguese people were made to pay great sums of money
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  Speaker 1: to the conqueror, who declared that the House of Braganza,
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  Speaker 1: that is, the royal house of Portugal, had ceased to reign.
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  Speaker 1: And while all this was happening, French troops kept on
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  Speaker 1: pouring into Spain, and far greater numbers than were needed
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  Speaker 1: to conquer little Portugal. Write descriptions of all the provinces
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  Speaker 1: through which you pass, said Napoleon, as he sent them away.
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  Speaker 1: Describe the roads and the nature of the land. Send
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  Speaker 1: me sketches that I may see the distance of the villages,
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  Speaker 1: the nature of the country, and the resources of the land.
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  Speaker 1: All this was not necessary if he merely intended to
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  Speaker 1: pass through the land to reach Portugal. No, he had
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  Speaker 1: another design, far greater than the conquest of Portugal. In
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  Speaker 1: his mind. Spain at this time was badly ruled. The King,
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  Speaker 1: Charles the Fourth, was old and foolish. All the power
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  Speaker 1: was in the hands of the Queen, who was not
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  Speaker 1: a good woman, and of Manuel Godoy, her favorite. He
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  Speaker 1: was not a good man, but he had given the
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  Speaker 1: beautiful name of the Prince of Peace because at one
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  Speaker 1: time he had helped to make a peace with France.
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  Speaker 1: The king's eldest son, Ferdinand, hated Goodoy and quarreled with him.
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  Speaker 1: So the court of Spain was full of strife. Now
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  Speaker 1: both sides appealed to Napoleon for help. It was rather
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  Speaker 1: like mice putting their heads into a cat's mouth. The
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  Speaker 1: king and Queen began to think so, and they decided
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  Speaker 1: to run away, as the Queen and Prince of Portugal
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  Speaker 1: had done, and take refuge from all their troubles in America.
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  Speaker 1: But when the people found out what they meant to do,
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  Speaker 1: they were very angry and broke out into a riot.
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  Speaker 1: They burst into Godoy's palace in search of the man
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  Speaker 1: they hated. They could not find him, so they wreaked
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  Speaker 1: their vengeance on the beautiful furniture and pictures, leaving the
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  Speaker 1: palace a waste of splinters and rags. Meanwhile, he, trembling
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  Speaker 1: in fear, was hiding in a roll of matting in
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  Speaker 1: the attic. There for two days he remained until at last,
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  Speaker 1: driven by hunger, he crept out. He hoped to escaped unseen,
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  Speaker 1: but at once he was seized and would have been
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  Speaker 1: torn to pieces, but the angry mob had not. Prince
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  Speaker 1: Ferdinand begged for his life. Now, the weak old king
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  Speaker 1: of Spain, trembling for the life of his friend, the
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  Speaker 1: Prince of Peace, decided to give up the throne to
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  Speaker 1: his son Ferdinand. He hoped in this way to quiet
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  Speaker 1: the riot, but the people, when they heard the news,
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  Speaker 1: went mad with joy, and to show it, they burned
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  Speaker 1: in sack the houses belonged to Godoy, his friends and relatives,
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  Speaker 1: while they proclaimed Ferdinand king with shouting and cheering. But
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  Speaker 1: their joy was short lived. Almost at once, the old
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  Speaker 1: king being to be sorry, they had given up the
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  Speaker 1: crown and wanted it back again. And meanwhile French troops
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  Speaker 1: were closing in round Madrid. Soon it became known that
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  Speaker 1: Napoleon himself was coming, and hearing that his father and
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  Speaker 1: mother were going to meet the Emperor, Ferdinand resolved to
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  Speaker 1: go too and lay his case before him. The people
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  Speaker 1: were very unwilling that he should go, for they felt
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  Speaker 1: sure that some evil would befall their young king. At
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  Speaker 1: one place, as he traveled through the land, they caught
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  Speaker 1: the traces of his horses, thinking to make him give
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  Speaker 1: up his intention, but he went on as there was
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  Speaker 1: still no sign of Napoleon. When Ferdinand reached the border,
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  Speaker 1: he crossed into France and met him at Bayonne. There
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  Speaker 1: too came the old King and Queen and Manuel Godoy
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  Speaker 1: beyond their own borders, surrounded by French soldiers. They were
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  Speaker 1: Napoleon's prisoners. They had a free will, it seemed, walked
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  Speaker 1: into the trap. And now Napoleon told them that it
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  Speaker 1: was useless to quarrel about who should be king of Spain,
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  Speaker 1: as he wanted the throne for one of his own family.
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  Speaker 1: The House of Burble had ceased to reign. He said,
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  Speaker 1: in his usual grand way, what could the poor Spanish
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  Speaker 1: kings do? The whole country was in the hands of
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  Speaker 1: the French, and they themselves prisoners in a foreign land,
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  Speaker 1: so at the bidding of Napoleon, they signed away the
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  Speaker 1: crown in the throne of Spain without striking a blow.
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  Speaker 1: Napoleon had added two more kingdoms to his conquest, and
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  Speaker 1: with Spain went all her rich colonies. But it had
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  Speaker 1: been done by base treachery. Even he himself long after
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  Speaker 1: said the whole thing, where is an ugly look? Since
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  Speaker 1: I have fallen? Napoleon now made his brother Joseph, king
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  Speaker 1: of Spain. But the people of Spain would have no
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  Speaker 1: Bonaparte to reign over them. The Spaniards, though the most
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  Speaker 1: polite and courteous of men, are idle and indolent, so
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  Speaker 1: them showing any innerery. But now they were thoroughly aroused.
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  Speaker 1: To a man, they rebelled. From every town and village
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  Speaker 1: they flocked, ready to fight for their freedom and their king. Meanwhile,
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  Speaker 1: the new king, Joseph, guarded by French troops, came to
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  Speaker 1: live in the capital. The Spaniards received him in sullen silence,
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  Speaker 1: and as Joseph looked at the dark faces which surrounded him,
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  Speaker 1: he felt that he had not a friend among them.
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  Speaker 1: Everywhere there was fighting, Yet so sure was Napoleon now
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  Speaker 1: that everything would go on in Spain, just as he
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  Speaker 1: wished that. He left Bayonne and set out in a
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  Speaker 1: tour through some of the French towns. But even as
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  Speaker 1: Napoleon started, messengers were speeding northward with the news that
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  Speaker 1: Donal DuPont and all his men had surrendered to the Spaniards.
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  Speaker 1: Napoleon was furiously angry. Could I have expected that from DuPont?
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  Speaker 1: He cried, a man I loved? Had he no other
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  Speaker 1: way to save his soldiers? Better? Far better to have
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  Speaker 1: died with arms in their hands. You can always supply
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  Speaker 1: the place of soldiers. Honor alone, once lost, can never
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  Speaker 1: be regained. Everywhere all through Spain, battles were fought, towns
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  Speaker 1: were besieged. One of the most famous sieges was that
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  Speaker 1: of Saragoza. The fortifications were poor, but the hearts of
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  Speaker 1: the people were stout. Day by day they held out,
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  Speaker 1: the women fighting beside the men. One woman named Maria
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  Speaker 1: Augustine became famous and was called the Maid of Saragoza.
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  Speaker 1: She fought beside her lover, helping him to fire the
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  Speaker 1: cannon of which he was in charge, and when he
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  Speaker 1: fell dead, she still went on fighting and worked the
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  Speaker 1: cannon herself. Hunger and disease fought against the brave defenders.
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  Speaker 1: Still they held out, but the French at last gained
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  Speaker 1: possession of a convent which was almost within the walls.
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  Speaker 1: Their leader then sent a summons to the town. It
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  Speaker 1: was short and sharp headquarters, Saint Angracia. Surrender was all
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  Speaker 1: it said. The reply was as sharp headquarters, Saragoza. War
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  Speaker 1: to the knife. At last, hearing the defeat at Balen,
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  Speaker 1: where DuPont and all his men had lain down their
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  Speaker 1: arms to the Spaniards, the French gave up the siege
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  Speaker 1: of Saragoza and marched away, foiled by a woman's hand
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  Speaker 1: before a battered wall. Afterwards, when the War of the
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  Speaker 1: Beeration was over, Maria Augustine received medals, as did other soldiers,
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  Speaker 1: and reward of her bravery, and her portrait was bought
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  Speaker 1: by people all over Europe. It was long ere the
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  Speaker 1: name of the Maid of Saragoza was forgotten. But now
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  Speaker 1: Spain was not left to fight her War of the
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  Speaker 1: Beeration unaided. Britain had been at war with Spain in
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  Speaker 1: the Battle of Chafalgar. The fleet of Spain had been
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  Speaker 1: destroyed with that of France. But the Kingdom thus nobly
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  Speaker 1: struggled against the usurpation and tyranny of France. Can no
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  Speaker 1: longer be considered as the enemy of Great Britain, said
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  Speaker 1: King George. It is recognized by me as a natural friend,
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  Speaker 1: and ally so British troops were sent to help the
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  Speaker 1: Spaniards in their struggle, and thus began for us the
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  Speaker 1: war which we call the Peninsular War. It would be
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  Speaker 1: impossible to follow all this war. The story of it
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  Speaker 1: belongs to another place, especially as Napoleon himself was very
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  Speaker 1: little with his soldiers in Spain. For even while this
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  Speaker 1: great struggle was going on, he began another war with Austria. Indeed,
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  Speaker 1: it was not only the Austrians who now fought in Tayrol.
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  Speaker 1: The peasants had risen under a brave leader called Huvel
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  Speaker 1: in Germany and Poland, in Italy. Everywhere the people arose.
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  Speaker 1: In many places they won battles, But after all, where
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  Speaker 1: Napoleon led there was the heart of the fight, and
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  Speaker 1: he was everywhere victorious. It was near the village of
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  Speaker 1: Wogarum that the deciding battle of the war took place.
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  Speaker 1: The Austrians fought with splendid courage, and when night came,
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  Speaker 1: of the fifty thousand who lay dead, nearly as many
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  Speaker 1: were French as Austrian. It was one of the fiercest
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  Speaker 1: battles ever fought, and to Napoleon accounted barely a victory.
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  Speaker 1: Yet for the Emperor of Austria it was enough. He
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  Speaker 1: was not made of stern stuff of heroes and patriots.
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  Speaker 1: Once more he yielded, and on the fourteenth of October,
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  Speaker 1: the Treaty of Scombron, so called from the name of
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  Speaker 1: the beautiful palace in Vienna where Napoleon was living, was signed.
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  Speaker 1: By this treaty, Austria lost still more land Napoleon took
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  Speaker 1: for France. The lands lying around the Andriatic parts of
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  Speaker 1: Upper Austria, Galicia and Bohemia were given to Napoleon's vassal
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  Speaker 1: kings to reward them for having helped him. For it
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  Speaker 1: must be remembered that Napoleon's great armies were not made
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  Speaker 1: up of only Frenchmen, but of men from every country
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  Speaker 1: which he had conquered or over whose ruler he held Sway,
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  Speaker 1: after the Treaty of Scombron was signed, Napoleon returned to Paris,
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  Speaker 1: and now one of the strangest things in his life happened.
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  Speaker 1: You remember that, long ago, when the Emperor was a
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  Speaker 1: poor soldier, he had married a beautiful lady called Josephine
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  Speaker 1: de Barroney. He had loved her very much. To live
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  Speaker 1: for Josephine, that is the history of my life. He
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  Speaker 1: had written. Then, I prize honor, since you prize it.
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  Speaker 1: I prize victory, since it pleases you. Now glory, if
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  Speaker 1: not honor, was heaped upon him. He had piled victory
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  Speaker 1: upon victory. But he forgot what he had written. As
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  Speaker 1: a young in eager bank, he put away his beautiful
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  Speaker 1: wife and married the Duchess Marie Louise, the daughter of
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  Speaker 1: his late enemy, the Emperor of Austria. One reason why
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  Speaker 1: Napoleon did this was that his pride had grown with
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  Speaker 1: his power. He still loved Osephine, but he longed to
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  Speaker 1: have a great lady for his wife, a princess, the
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  Speaker 1: daughter of a long line of kings, to be the
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  Speaker 1: mother of his children. Marie Louise was little more than
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  Speaker 1: the girl. She had hated Napoleon, and once when she
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  Speaker 1: heard that he had been defeated, she said that she
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  Speaker 1: was glad and hoped that it would happen again now.
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  Speaker 1: She came to be his wife because her father told her,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps that this marriage would help to bring peace and
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  Speaker 1: freedom to her country. So she became the Empress Marie
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  Speaker 1: Louise end of Chapter seven