NAPOLEON - Signed autograph manuscript, written in Saint Helena.

NAPOLEON (1769.1821)

Autograph manuscript signed “ Napoleon ” in the text.

One folio page.

Longwood, St. Helena. Undated (1816)

Autograph apostille signed by Emmanuel de Las Cases, and his son.

Extraordinary and very precious manuscript of the fallen Emperor, written on the island of Saint Helena, offering a primitive version of the plan of part of his Memoirs.

An extremely rare relic of the exile of Saint Helena, this manuscript corresponds to the summary of the text entitled “ 13 Vendémiaire ”, published as chapter III of the “ Italian War ” part of the Memoirs published in 1823 by Las Cases.

The head of the sheet is written by the son of Emmanuel de Las Cases, Napoleon's occasional secretary in Saint Helena, indicating a title and a summary in three points:

From 13 Vendémiaire (5 8bre 1795) to the end of March 1796. Space of 6 months.

13 Vendémiaire.

Home Army Command.

Appointment to command of the Army of Italy.

Napoleon crossed out this text and wrote ten chapter headings below, the last of which “ Napoleon is appointed commander-in-chief of the army of Italy ” was crossed out by him:

I Constitution of year 3

II Additional laws to the Constitution

III The Additional Laws are accepted by the majority of the primary assemblies but rejected in Paris.

IV Open resistance from the Paris sections; they have the National Guard at their disposal.

V Menou is removed from command of the Interior Army and placed under arrest.

VI Dispositions of the National Guard of Paris to attack the Tuileries. Defense of the Convention.

VII Combat of 13 Vendémiaire.

VIII The day after 13 Vendémiaire

IX Napoleon is appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Interior.

X Napoleon is named Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Italy.

At the bottom of the page, an autograph note signed by Emmanuel de Las Cases indicates:

“Written by Napoleon at Longwood; original manuscript from the Italian campaigns. to Mr W. Fraser in Delhy. Passy July 22, 1825. By the Cte ​​de Las Cases. »

The Scottish orientalist William Fraser (1784.1835) spent a long time in Delhi, India, where, initially secretary to the Consul of Great Britain, he was appointed Consul himself in 1833 until his assassination in 1835. Collector of manuscripts, notably oriental, he received from Las Cases two relics of Saint Helena: a lock of Napoleon's hair, and the present manuscript.

THE MEMORIES OF NAPOLEON :

Napoleon had said in 1814 to his last faithful: " I will write the great things that we have done together", and confirmed it again at Las Cases at the beginning of August 1815: "We will write our Memoirs. Yes, you have to work; work too is the scythe of time. After all, one must fulfill one's destiny; it is also my great doctrine. Well ! May mine be fulfilled.”

Aware of the major place he had occupied in the history of his time, he devoted long hours to Saint Helena dictating – more rarely writing – the story of his campaigns, and military and political analyzes of his era. The fallen Emperor set about shaping his image for posterity, he who in his time had known how to play master of all means of communication to impose his public persona as a victorious revolutionary general, first consul peacemaker and legislator, then beneficent emperor.

The publication of these “ Mémoires ” took place in several stages, from 1820 to 1869. They were first the subject of partial editions by Gourgaud in 1818, O'Meara in 1820 and Las Cases in 1823. In a non-existent manner still exhaustive, and in a disrupted chronological order, a large edition was given in 1823-1825 under the title of Memoirs to serve the history of France under Napoleon I, reissued in 1830 in a restored chronology, while the part devoted to Egypt, which remained unpublished, appeared separately in 1847.