Details
NAPOLEON I (1769-1821)
Letter signed ('Votre affectionné pere Napole') to Prince Eugène Napoleon ('Mon fils'), Venice, 4 December 1807, 2 pages, 4to, integral leaf removed (inscribed in a different hand in top left corner, 'No.1').
ENCOURAGING THE PRIVATEERING SPIRIT. The reorganisation of the army of Italy and control of the Adriatic, ordered with Napoleon's usual urgency. Those men due to retire or for the reform proposed by General Charpentier, whether from the armies of Naples, Dalmatia or elsewhere, are to be sent to Chambery where the Minister of War will send details of their destination, the same procedure to be followed for cavalry and artillery 'de sorte qu'il n'y ait plus en Italie que des hommes valides et en état de faire la guerre'. Meanwhile two brigs ('bien commandés') will patrol the Adriatic from Ancona to purge it of corsairs and other small vessels, and one of the commanders must report daily to Eugène.
Napoleon also introduces a novel idea, for the entrusting of a brig to an officer of determination ('un officier resolu') who will recruit a team of adventurers and take three months victuals. 'Vous lui donnerez la liberté de courir en course, bien entendre qu'une partie des prises appartiendra a l'Etat, selon l'usage etabli pour les Corsaires'. Once out of Venice, the brig may go anywhere, and two or three sailors are to be sought who are capable of commanding corsairs. This will give a taste for privateering, and encourage the military spirit.
The consolidation of French control over the Italian peninsula and the upper Adriatic (while the straits of Messina remained in Bourbon and British hands) was essential to the exploitation of the Italian raw materials needed for French manufacturers. In 1806 the upkeep of the Franco-Italian forces in Dalmatia alone amounted to £1 million (to be paid in cash).
Letter signed ('Votre affectionné pere Napole') to Prince Eugène Napoleon ('Mon fils'), Venice, 4 December 1807, 2 pages, 4to, integral leaf removed (inscribed in a different hand in top left corner, 'No.1').
ENCOURAGING THE PRIVATEERING SPIRIT. The reorganisation of the army of Italy and control of the Adriatic, ordered with Napoleon's usual urgency. Those men due to retire or for the reform proposed by General Charpentier, whether from the armies of Naples, Dalmatia or elsewhere, are to be sent to Chambery where the Minister of War will send details of their destination, the same procedure to be followed for cavalry and artillery 'de sorte qu'il n'y ait plus en Italie que des hommes valides et en état de faire la guerre'. Meanwhile two brigs ('bien commandés') will patrol the Adriatic from Ancona to purge it of corsairs and other small vessels, and one of the commanders must report daily to Eugène.
Napoleon also introduces a novel idea, for the entrusting of a brig to an officer of determination ('un officier resolu') who will recruit a team of adventurers and take three months victuals. 'Vous lui donnerez la liberté de courir en course, bien entendre qu'une partie des prises appartiendra a l'Etat, selon l'usage etabli pour les Corsaires'. Once out of Venice, the brig may go anywhere, and two or three sailors are to be sought who are capable of commanding corsairs. This will give a taste for privateering, and encourage the military spirit.
The consolidation of French control over the Italian peninsula and the upper Adriatic (while the straits of Messina remained in Bourbon and British hands) was essential to the exploitation of the Italian raw materials needed for French manufacturers. In 1806 the upkeep of the Franco-Italian forces in Dalmatia alone amounted to £1 million (to be paid in cash).
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