able time, and other circumstances, incline
me to hope my next will be a boy, and I promise you I will make a
soldier of him; but I wish him to bear your name, and that you
should be his godfather. I trust you will not refuse your sister's
request.
Will you send, for this purpose, your power of attorney to
Baciocchi, or to whomsoever you think fit? I shall expect with
impatience your assent. Because we are poor let not that cause you
to despise us; for, after all, you are our brother, mine are the
only children that call you uncle, and we all love you more than we
do the favours of fortune. Perhaps I may one day succeed in
convincing you of the love I bear you.--Your affectionate sister,
CHRISTINE BONAPARTE.
--[Madame Bacciocchi went by the name of Marianne at St. Cyr, of
Christine while on her travels, and of Eliza under the Consulate.--
Bourrienne.]--
P.S.--Do not fail to remember me to your wife, whom I strongly
desire to be acquainted with. They told me at Paris I was very like
her. If you recollect my features you can judge. C. B.
This letter is in the handwriting of Lucien Bonaparte.'
--[Joseph Bonaparte in his Notes says, "It is false that Madame
Bonaparte ever called herself Christine; it is false that she ever
wrote the letter of which M. de Bourrienne here gives a copy." It
will be observed that Bourrienne says it was written by her brother
Lucien. This is an error. The letter is obviously from Christine
Boyer, the wife of Lucien Bonaparte, whose marriage had given such
displeasure to Napoleon. (See Erreurs, tome i. p. 240, and Iung's
Lucien, tome i p. 161).]--
General Bonaparte had been near a month at Passeriano when he received
the following autograph letter from the Emperor of Austria:
TO MONSIEUR LE GENERAL BONAPARTE, GENERAL-IN-CHIEF
OF THE ARMY OF ITALY.
MONSIEUR LE GENERAL BONAPARTE--When I thought I had given my
plenipotentiaries full powers to terminate the important negotiation
with which they were charged, I learn, with as much pain as
surprise, that in consequence of swerving continually from the
stipulations of the preliminaries, the restoration of tranquillity,
with the tidings of which I desire to gladden the hearts of my
subjects, and which the half of Europe devoutly prays for, becomes
day after day more uncertain.
Faithful to the perfor
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