Memoirs of Napoleon, vol 6 | Page 4

sample the author's ideas before
making an entire meal of them. D.W.]

MEMOIRS OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, VOLUME 6.
By LOUIS ANTOINE FAUVELET DE BOURRIENNE

His Private Secretary
Edited by R. W. Phipps Colonel, Late Royal Artillery
1891

CONTENTS:

CHAPTER IX.
to
CHAPTER XVIII.
1802-1803

CHAPTER IX.
1802.
Proverbial falsehood of bulletins--M. Doublet--Creation of the Legion
of Honour--Opposition to it in the Council and other authorities of the
State--The partisans of an hereditary system-- The question of the
Consulship for life.
The historian of these times ought to put no faith in the bulletins,
despatches, notes, and proclamations which have emanated from
Bonaparte, or passed through his hands. For my part, I believe that the
proverb, "As great a liar as a bulletin," has as much truth in it as the
axiom, two and two make four.
The bulletins always announced what Bonaparte wished to be believed
true; but to form a proper judgment on any fact, counter-bulletins must
be sought for and consulted. It is well known, too, that Bonaparte
attached great importance to the place whence he dated his bulletins;
thus, he dated his decrees respecting the theatres and Hamburg beef at
Moscow.
The official documents were almost always incorrect. There was falsity
in the exaggerated descriptions of his victories, and falsity again in the
suppression or palliation of his reverses and losses. A writer, if he took
his materials from the bulletins and the official correspondence of the
time, would compose a romance rather than a true history. Of this many

proofs have been given in the present work.
Another thing which always appeared to me very remarkable was, that
Bonaparte, notwithstanding his incontestable superiority, studied to
depreciate the reputations of his military commanders, and to throw on
their shoulders faults which he had committed himself. It is notorious
that complaints and remonstrances, as energetic as they were well
founded, were frequently addressed to General Bonaparte on the
subject of his unjust and partial bulletins, which often attributed the
success of a day to some one who had very little to do with it, and
made no mention of the officer who actually had the command. The
complaints made by the officers and soldiers stationed at Damietta
compelled General Lanusse, the commander, to remonstrate against the
alteration of a bulletin, by which an engagement with a body of Arabs
was represented as an insignificant affair, and the loss trifling, though
the General had stated the action to be one of importance, and the loss
considerable. The misstatement, in consequence of his spirited and
energetic remonstrances, was corrected.
Bonaparte took Malta, as is well known, in forty-eight hours. The
empire of the Mediterranean, secured to the English by the battle of
Aboukir, and their numerous cruising vessels, gave them the means of
starving the garrison, and of thus forcing General Vaubois, the
commandant of Malta, who was cut off from all communication with
France, to capitulate. Accordingly on the 4th of September 1800 he
yielded up the Gibraltar of the Mediterranean, after a noble defence of
two years. These facts require to be stated in order the better to
understand what follows.
On 22d February 1802 a person of the name of Doublet, who was the
commissary of the French Government at Malta when we possessed
that island, called upon me at the Tuileries. He complained bitterly that
the letter which he had written from Malta to the First Consul on the 2d
Ventose, year VIII. (9th February 1800), had been altered in the
'Moniteur'. "I congratulated him," said M. Doublet, "on the 18th
Brumaire, and informed him of the state of Malta, which was very
alarming. Quite the contrary was printed in the 'Moniteur', and that is

what I complain of. It placed me in a very disagreeable situation at
Malta, where I was accused of having concealed the real situation of
the island, in which I was discharging a public function that gave
weight to my words." I observed to him that as I was not the editor of
the 'Moniteur' it was of no use to apply to me; but I told him to give me
a copy of the letter, and I would mention the subject to the First Consul,
and communicate the answer to him. Doublet searched his pocket for
the letter, but could not find it. He said he would send a copy, and
begged me to discover how the error originated. On the same day he
sent me the copy of the letter, in which, after congratulating Bonaparte
on his return, the following passage occurs:--"Hasten to save Malta
with men and provisions: no time is to be lost." For this passage these
words were substituted in the 'Moniteur': "His name inspires the brave
defenders of Malta with fresh courage; we have men