Historical Dictionary of the Napoleonic Era

by George F Nafziger

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  CADIZ, CONSTITUTION OF. In the spring of 1812 the Spanish junta, a liberal constituent Cortes, met on the Isla de León, and drew up the Constitution of Cadiz. The constitution provided for a single-chamber parliamentary assembly system in which the Parliament was elected by indirect universal manhood suffrage. It guaranteed popular sovereignty, freedom of the press, freedom of legal contract, civil equality, safeguards for property rights and the reform of local government. Though Spain would remain a monarchy, the powers of the king were limited by a Council of State.

  The constitution was based on many of the ideals of the French Revolution and despite this, it was accepted by Fernando VII when he assumed his throne on 24 March 1814. However, six weeks later he repudiated it. In 1820 the Spanish people revolted and forced him to restore the Constitution of Cadiz and once again, in October 1823, he repudiated it.

  CADOUDAL, GEORGES (1771–1804). Cadoudal was born on 1 January 1771 in Kerléano-en-Brech, France. He began his career as a clerk for a notary, but when the Convention began its draft of 300,000 men he evaded conscription and joined the insurgents in Fougères. He became part of the Bonchamps army and served as a captain of cavalry, fighting in the battles of Le Mans and Savenay in December 1793. Cadoudal then moved to Brittany where he organized a counterrevolutionary insurrection in Brest, but was taken prisoner on 30 June 1794 and imprisoned with his entire family in Brest. His mother and uncles died during their captivity, but Cadoudal survived. When the English and émigrés landed at Quiberon he was unable to execute the turning movement he was assigned.

  When the invasion failed Cadoudal stayed in France and in August 1795 he became the commander of a force of insurgents engaging General Hoche. In June 1796, however, he accepted and signed a peace with the French government. At the end of 1797 he left for England seeking support and funds. He returned to France on 17 April 1799 and captured Sazeau. He captured and held Morbihan, receiving from the English money, cannons, and 30,000 muskets. However, his advance was stopped by the coup d’État du 18 brumaire and he once again signed a peace. Napoleon offered Cadoudal a command in the army as a general, but he refused it. Believing this might provoke his arrest, he fled once again to London where he was received as a victorious conqueror by Louis XVIII. During the night of 5–6 June 1800 he landed near the island of Rhuys and attempted to instigate another revolt, but Marengo dashed his hopes. At this point he chose to become involved in a plot with Moreau and Pichegru to kill Napoleon with a bomb. He was betrayed and captured on 9 March after a struggle that left two of his attackers dead. It was understood by the police that he was expecting the support of a royal prince, who was thought to be the Duc d’Enghien. This led to the murder of the Duc d’Enghien in Baden and caused a considerable international outcry against Napoleon. Cadoudal and 19 of his associates were sentenced to death. Some were commuted, but Cadoudal was executed on 24 June 1804.

  CADOUDAL-PICHEGRU CONSPIRACY. Georges Cadoudal and Charles Pichegru, ardent royalists, conspired in 1804 to reestablish the Bourbons in France by the overthrow of First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte. A bomb was apparently used in an attempt to kill Napoleon. The plot was uncovered by Minister of Police Fouché and crushed.

  CAMBACÉRÈS, JEAN-JACQUES RÉGIS DE (1753–1824). Cambacérès was born in Montpellier on 18 October 1753. He studied law. He served as counselor in the Court of Aids at Montpellier in 1774 and president of the criminal court there in 1791. He attempted to be elected by the Second Estate (nobility) to the États-généraux, but was unsuccessful. However, in 1792 he was elected to the Convention. Cambacérès was a careful politician who adhered to the ideals of the Revolution, but sat in the middle of the assembly. He participated in the trial of the king, but his statement on the sentence is so confusing that it is impossible to divine if he voted for or against the execution of Louis XVI. Apparently he voted for death, but only if France was invaded. This was surely a carefully considered noncommittal position. Cambacérès and Philippe-Antoine Merlin produced two successive drafts for a civil code that were not enacted. When the Mountain and the Gironde fought he carefully stayed out of the fray and when the Mountain won, he confined himself to the legislative mommittee.

  After 9 thermidor, Cambacérès served on the Committee of Public Safety (Comité du salut public) three times: from 5 November 1794 to 5 March 1795, 4 April to 2 August 1795 and 1 September to 26 October 1795. Cambacérès also was instrumental in concluding the peace treaties of 1795 with Tuscany, Prussia, the Netherlands and Spain. When the Convention was dissolved he became a member of the Council of Five Hundred.

  Cambacérès opposed the liberation of the prince and princess, declaring, “There is little danger if holding in captivity the individual members of the Capet family, but there is considerable danger in expelling them.” He became suspected of “moderatism” and was denied a position as a Director. Cambacérès was not reelected in 1797 and returned to his private law practice. This did not last long and in July 1799 he was appointed Minister of Justice. Cambacérès avoided actively supporting the coup d’État du 18 brumaire. Cambacérès was proclaimed Second Consul according to the Constitution of the Year VIII. Cambacérès took office on 25 December 1799, for the ten-year term (1799–1809). In 1802 he supported Napoleon in becoming Consul for Life. He played an essential role prior to Napoleon’s rise to power, notably in his work in the preparation of the Concordat and the Civil Code. He served as president of the Senate where he presided over the Senate and, as a rule, over the Council of State. As a result, he exercised extended powers during Napoleon’s frequent absences.

  He became archchancellor of the Empire in 1804, the highest position in France not held by a member of Napoleon’s family. In 1808 he was also elevated to the dignity of Duc de Parme, and served Napoleon faithfully. He was a homosexual and one of the very few that Napoleon allowed near him. He was also a gourmand and was renowned for his long and lavish dinners. Of this, Napoleon is reputed to have said, “To eat quickly, dine with me. To eat well, with the Second Consul. But leave yourself two hours. And don’t expect to talk.” Despite disagreements with Napoleon, he was a trusted and valued adviser throughout the Consulate and Empire. These disagreements included the execution of the Duc d’Enghien, the invasion of Spain and the invasion of Russia. During the Restoration in 1814 he was excluded from politics and reluctantly returned to serve Napoleon during the Hundred Days, to direct the Ministry of Justice and preside over the Chamber of Peers. During the Second Restoration he was banned as a regicide. Apparently his incoherent, committal speech at the trial of Louis XVI didn’t impress Louis XVIII. Cambacérès lived in Belgium until he was allowed to return to France in 1818. He did not return to public life, died in Paris on 1 May 1824 and left a personal fortune valued at 7,250,000 francs.

  CAMBRONNE, PIERRE JACQUES ÉTIENNE, VICOMTE (1770–1842). Cambronne was born in Nantes on 25 December 1770. He died on 29 January 1842. Cambronne enlisted in the Revolutionary armies in 1791 as a common grenadier and quickly rose through the ranks. A brave soldier he became a captain on 6 October 1794. On 11 April 1809 Cambronne was admitted to the 1st Tirailleur-Chasseur regiment, part of the Imperial Guard. Cambronne became a baron d’Empire on 4 June 1810 and colonel-major of the 3rd Voltigeur Regiment on 6 August 1811. Cambronne served throughout the 1813 and 1814 campaigns.

  Cambronne became général de brigade commanding the 1st Old Guard Chasseur Regiment on 20 November 1813. When Napoleon abdicated in 1814 he accompanied him to Elba and commanded the Bataillon Napoleon. Cambronne returned with Napoleon during the Hundred Days and commanded the 1st Old Guard Chasseurs at Waterloo. At the final stages of the battle, wounded and standing defiant in the midst of his soldiers, when called upon by the British to surrender, Cambronne is reputed to have responded with defiance “The Guard dies but it does not surrender.” This is, in fact, revisionist history. His response, now known as the mot de Cambronne, was merde (shit).

  CANNING, GEORGE (1770–1827). Canning was
born in London on 11 April 1770. He was born into a prominent family. Canning studied law and was called to the bar. His life was hard and included losing his wife a year after the birth of his son. By 1792, when Canning returned from Oxford, he had a reputation as a Jacobin and hater of the aristocracy. In July 1793 Canning entered Parliament for the borough of Newport, Isle of Wight, and was a supporter of Pitt from 1793 through 1801. In Parliament he would become famous for his scathing wit. In 1796 Canning became under-secretary for foreign affairs. When Pitt resigned in 1801 Canning resigned with him as well. When Pitt returned to power, he took the post as treasurer of the navy on 12 May 1804. When Pitt died on 21 January 1806 Canning again left office, refusing to serve in the Fox government. After Fox’s death he joined the Duke of Portland’s administration as secretary of state for foreign affairs, holding that post from 25 March 1807 to 9 September 1810. Canning supported the British attack on Denmark and the prosecution of the Peninsular War. In August 1810 a dispute arose with Castlereagh, where Castlereagh thought Canning had demanded his dismissal from government for incompetence. Canning was shot in the thigh and, because Portland had died, he was unable to clear his name in the public arena. From 1810 to 1822 his political career was in eclipse.

  In 1822, after Castlereagh committed suicide, Canning returned to government, accepting the governor-generalship of India, and eventually inherited the entire inheritance of Castlereagh—the foreign office and leadership of the House of Commons. Canning held these posts from September 1822 to April 1827. In April 1827 he succeeded Lord Liverpool as prime minister. Wellington, Peel and others refused to serve under him and the strain of government would prove too much. Canning’s health broke and he caught cold attending the funeral of the Duke of York in January 1827 that would grind him down until his death on 8 August 1827. Canning died at Chiswick in the house of the Duke of Devonshire, in the same room as Fox had died, and he would be buried at the feet of Pitt.

  CANOVA, ANTONIO, MARQUIS D’ISCHIA (1757–1822). Born on 1 November 1757 in Possagno, to a family of stonemasons, Canova worked in his grandfather’s shop until he was 12. At that time a member of the Venetian Falieri family noted his talent and sent him to study under Bernardo (also known as Torretto) and then under one of Bernardo’s nephews in Venice. Here he studied sculpture, language and antiquities. When he was 23 he was granted a pension by Venice and sent to Rome where he found many patrons, including Pope Clement XIV. In 1802 he went to Paris to make studies for a statue of Napoleon and visited London in 1815. He received the title of Marquis d’Ischia from the Pope. He died on 13 October 1822 in Venice.

  Among Canova’s more celebrated works are Amor and Psyche (Louvre, Paris); Perseus with the Head of Medusa (Vatican); Napoleon I (Brera Palace, Milan); the cenotaph of Alfieri (Santa Croce, Florence); Venus (Villa Borghese, Rome), modeled from the princess Pauline Borghese, Napoleon’s sister, and The Three Graces (Hermitage Gallery, St. Petersburg, Russia).

  CARL AUGUST, GRAND DUKE OF SAXE-WEIMAR-EISENACH (1765–1828). At age 18 he inherited the government of Saxe-Weimar from his mother. After 1783 Carl August attempted to reform the Holy Roman Empire, but those attempts failed because of the start of the French Revolution. In 1792–93 Carl August fought against France as a Prussian general. In 1796, following the example of Prussia, he abandoned the war with France. In 1805 Carl August attempted to persuade Friederich Wilhelm of Prussia to join the Russo-Austrian alliance against France and again served as a Prussian general in the 1806 campaign. When the Confederation of the Rhine was formed, Carl August brought Saxe-Weimar into it and remained loyal to Napoleon until August 1813, when he abandoned him. At the Congress of Vienna, his territories were expanded and he received the title grand duke. One of his granddaughters, Augusta, would marry Wilhelm I, the first German emperor.

  CARLOS (CHARLES) IV, KING OF SPAIN (1742–1819). Carlos IV was born in Naples on 11 November 1742. He married his first cousin, Maria Luisa of Parma, and ascended the throne of Spain in 1788. Carlos IV had no facility for rule and was struck by occasional bouts of madness. Carlos IV was dominated by his wife and her lover, Manuel Godoy. At Godoy’s recommendation he joined the First Coalition and declared war on France. The fighting along the Pyrenees was inconclusive and he allowed Godoy to end the war with the Treaty of Basel, signed on 22 July 1795. On 19 August 1796 Spain allied with France through the Treaty of San Ildefonso and declared war on Britain. Spanish armies, in support of Napoleonic policies, invaded Portugal in the War of Oranges. Spain annexed Olivenza under terms of the Treaty of Badajoz. His support of Napoleon continued until 1808, but his hold on power was not strong because of growing hatred of Godoy by the Spanish people.

  On 19 March 1808 Carlos IV was forced to abdicate by his son, Fernando VII. Carlos IV appealed to Napoleon, hoping that Napoleon would restore his ally. Napoleon responded by calling both Carlos and Fernando to Bayonne where he forced both to renounce the throne in favor of the other, declared the throne vacant and appointed his brother Joseph to fill it. Carlos IV was then sent with his wife and Godoy to Compiègne, then to Marseille, finally settling in Rome in 1812 where he lived until his death on 20 January 1819.

  CASTLEREAGH, ROBERT STEWART, MARQUESS OF LONDONDERRY (1769–1823). Castlereagh was born on 18 June 1769 as the eldest son of Robert Stewart of Ballylawn Castle in Donegal and Mount Steward in Down, and Ulster, and Lady Sarah Seymour, daughter of the Earl of Hertford. Castlereagh attended Armagh School, then St. John’s College, Cambridge, but left after a year. A standing feud existed between his father and Lord Downshire, who then held sway over County Down. His father put him forward in July 1790 for one of the seats in the Irish House of Commons. Upon winning the seat Castlereagh assumed his duties at the age of 21. There he soon became friends with Arthur Wellesley, M.P. for Trim and later the Duke of Wellington.

  In 1796, when Castlereagh’s father became an earl, he took the courtesy title of Viscount Castlereagh and became keeper of the Privy Seal in Ireland and acted as chief secretary in Pelham’s absence in 1797. In 1800, with the Act of Union joining England and Ireland, his official connections with Ireland practically ended. Castlereagh took a seat at Westminster for Down, his constituency from 10 years earlier in Dublin. About that time his father accepted an Irish marquessate, which would eventually pass to Robert Stewart. Castlereagh was recruited into the British government by William Pitt and became president of the Board of Control in the Addington cabinet. Castlereagh served in the war office under Portland. Debating the Convention of Cintra, he successfully defended Wellesley and in early 1809 secured for Wellesley command of the second Portuguese expedition. In 1812 and 1813 he strove to keep the Allies together and negotiated at Châtillon with Caulaincourt in 1814. In April 1814 Castlereagh went to Paris and voiced his displeasure with Napoleon being in Elba, so close to the French coast, and summoned Wellington to the embassy in Paris.

  During the Congress of Vienna, Castlereagh recognized that the ambitions of Russia toward Europe were as great a threat as those of Napoleon. Castlereagh strove to establish a balance of power in Europe to check both Russia and Prussia, signing a secret treaty on 3 January 1815, between Britain, Austria and France directed against the plans of Russia in Poland and Prussia in Saxony.

  Castlereagh’s role in British politics would continue into 1821. In 1822 Wellington warned Dr. Bankhead that Castlereagh was unwell and possibly mentally ill. Precautions were taken, but a penknife was overlooked and with this knife he cut his throat on 12 August 1822.

  CAULAINCOURT, ARMAND AUGUSTIN LOUIS, MARQUIS DE (1772–1827). Caulaincourt was born in Caulaincourt on 9 December 1772 to a noble family. Caulaincourt entered the army at an early age and during the Revolution did not emigrate to escape the Terror. Caulaincourt was stripped of his rank of captain in 1793 and returned to the ranks. In 1795, through the intervention of Hoche, he was restored to the rank of captain and rose to the rank of colonel (chef de brigade) on 30 July 1799. In 1800 Caulaincourt was sent on a diplomatic mission to Russia a
nd on 31 July 1802 he became an aide-de-camp to Napoleon. On 29 August 1803 Caulaincourt became général de brigade. In 1804 Napoleon sent him to Baden to arrest some British agents, which brought about the accusation that he was involved in the arrest of the Duc d’Enghien. Caulaincourt became grand écuyer to Napoleon in June 1804 and général de division on 1 February 1805.

  In 1807 Caulaincourt was sent to Russia to serve as ambassador. Though he served in various military capacities, he was charged, throughout the Napoleonic period, with all diplomatic negotiations. Caulaincourt signed the armistice of Pleswitz in June 1813, was at the Congress of Châtillon in 1814 and concluded the Treaty of Fontainebleau on 10 April 1814. Caulaincourt became minister of foreign affairs during the Hundred Days. Caulaincourt was proscribed by the restored Bourbons in 1815, but Czar Alexander I intervened and had the proscription removed. He died in Paris on 19 February 1827.

  CAULAINCOURT, AUGUST-JEAN-GABRIEL, BARON, LATER COMTE (1777–1812). Brother of Armand, he was born on 16 September 1777 in Caulaincourt. He joined the 8th Cavalry Regiment on 6 January 1792 and steadily rose through the ranks, despite the Revolution. His military career had him constantly in combat. Caulaincourt was wounded at the battle of Marengo and was confirmed in the rank of chef d’escadron, backdated to 8 December 1799, by order of Napoleon, and chef de brigade on 24 August 1801. On 9 June 1804 he became an aide-de-camp to Louis Bonaparte.

  Caulaincourt fought at Austerlitz and in 1806 went into Dutch service under Louis. Caulaincourt was promoted to generalmajor on 30 August 1806. On 19 December 1807 he became minister plenipotentiary from Holland to Naples. On 7 September 1809 Caulaincourt was promoted to général de division. In 1810 he was made a comte d’Empire. Caulaincourt fought in Spain and was part of the Grande Armée when it invaded Russia in 1812. At the battle of Borodino (7 September 1812), he replaced Montbrun as commander of the II Cavalry Corps, and at the head of the 5th Cuirassier Regiment, led the charge that captured the Great Redoubt. Caulaincourt was, however, killed outright by a shot as the Redoubt was captured.