Unsigned handwritten manuscript by Napoleon Bonaparte, four pages on two adjoining sheets, 8 x 12.75, no date. Important, unpublished handwritten manuscript by Napoleon Bonaparte for his proposed memoirs, ostensibly penned while living in exile at Longwood House on Saint Helena. Napoleon famously dictated his memoirs to his aides, Charles Tristan, marquis de Montholon, and Emmanuel, comte de Las Cases, who had accompanied him to Saint Helena. Las Cases published the admiring work under the title Le Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène (The Memorial of Saint Helena) in 1823. Here, Napoleon writes out lengthy commentary on the French Directory and his nation's political situation in the 1790s.
In part (translated): "III. Tipping system: 4 factions divided the Republic; the 1st had confidence in the adapted constitution of 1795. The 2nd desired a president at the head of the state. The 3rd was that of the 1793 constitution, called the terrorists. The 4th, supporters of the Bourbons and counter-revolution. This last one consisted of only a few families and priests; terror had weighed on them, and they had been destroyed. Its own followers who still lived had emigrated and perished in poverty and contempt abroad. The first three factions encompassed the entire population of France. Many individuals who approved the adopted constitution had a decided aversion to the Convention delegates and would have preferred that patriots who had not participated in the government of the Convention be called to the Directory, or at least that voters not be called. The five directors had all voted for the death of the king. It was expected that they would employ all the Convention delegates, their colleagues who were no longer part of the council, and especially that they would show confidence in the voters. In the end, the directors allowed themselves to be dominated by the spirit of persecution that each had adopted during the long and tumultuous reign of the Convention, to the great astonishment of observers. One can say that the title of Convention delegate and especially that of voter became a title of exclusion from employment and soon a title of proscription. As these individuals expressed indignation at this conduct, they were, by a high police measure, expelled from Paris and obliged to return to their homes. The supporters of a president's government were easy to rally to the new system. Many of them were educated men who had figured in the Constituent Assembly, in public affairs. The director to be sidelined allied with them forever; they became, for them, the constitution that was founded on self-love but from the directors. The terrorists or supporters of the 1793 constitution were initially few in number or at least inactive; they were inclined to sincerely rally to the government composed of 5 fervent Convention delegates who had belonged to various Jacobin groups...these 5 directors were also from the party desired on the 13th Vendemiaire, and the terrorists gloried in having contributed to the success of that day. But the grandeur that surrounded the 5 directors, the title of representative, the etiquette, initially frightened them...War was soon declared; this faction went to war and soon conspired for the salvation of the fatherland and for the deliverance from the tyranny of the 5 lords of the Luxembourg...Carnot alone was one of them and enjoyed their trust. The Bourbonians hated the directors as republicans, as Convention delegates, as voters, and as the men of the 13th Vendemiaire. It was to please, to capture, and to rally this faction that the Directory worked...it was Carnot who soon became the object of the hatred and fear of all the terrorists, especially since they had hoped more from him. The armies sincerely rallied to the government, which, while retaining the principles for which they had fought, promised them more stability in their employment and more consideration. Thus, the Directory, through the strangest of illusions, worsened its position every day."
On the last page is an autograph note in pencil by Charles Tristan, marquis de Montholon, a general during the Napoleonic Wars who chose to go into exile with Bonaparte on Saint Helena (translated): "Writing of Emperor Napoleon at St. Helena." In fine condition, with some light staining and soiling.
Aware of the major role he had played in the history of his time, Napoleon Bonaparte devoted long hours at Saint Helena to dictate—and more rarely write—an account of his campaigns and military and political analyses of his era. Napoleon had little else to do than to reflect on his triumphs, and this piece documents some of Napoleon's own thoughts on the political situation in France during the 1790s. It is a critical manuscript that offers insight into Napoleon's understanding of his life, politics, and career.
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