Massena, soon to be Duke of Rivoli and Prince of Essling, had an annual
income of 638,375 francs from five. Davout had six endowments
producing 91o,ooo francs a year, while Lannes, on 328,ooo, looked
positively indigent by comparison. But it must be emphasized that the big
money came from attracting Napoleon's attention by signal services on
the battlefield. Brune and Jourdan, for example, who were in the outer
circles, received no endowments at all.
The marshals were themselves the tip of an iceberg of a rewards
system that gradually reduced the higher command to the status of
clients. Altogether Napoleon created twenty-three dukes, 193 counts, 648
barons and 117 knights and disbursed over sixteen million francs in 1,261
awards in favour of 824 generals. The military were the principal financial
beneficiaries of the patronage system, since even the highest ranking
civilian noble, such as Cambaceres, was on a maximum of 45o,ooo francs
a year. Gaudin, his title of Duke of Gaeta notwithstanding, received no
more than 125,ooo, which was about the usual mark for top-ranking
civilian nobles; Maret, Duke of Bassano, had an annual salary of 1 18,ooo
and Regnier, Duke of Massa, was on 15o,ooo.
The great advantage the military had was that they could make several
more fortunes by looting in conquered territories. The most significant
bifurcation in the marshalate was not that between the Army of Italy men
and the veterans of the Rhine but between the men of honesty and
integrity, like Davout, Bessieres and Mortier (and later Suchet), and the
looters, like Massena, Soult, Brune, Augereau (and later Victor).
Napoleon knew all about the depredations of the looters from his spies
and usually connived at them, but just occasionally he would force them
to disgorge, to show that he was still master. He was amusedly
contemptuous of their venality and on St Helena once reproved his
entourage for talking in glowing terms about Lannes and Ney: 'You are
fooling yourself if you regard Lannes thus. He and Ney were both men
who would slit your belly if they thought it to their advantage. But on the
field of battle they were beyond price.'
Napoleon always had a soft spot for swaggering boasters provided they
were courageous, as witness his attitude to Augereau, whom in general he
disliked. Like so many of Napoleon's marshals, Lannes and Ney were
brave and audacious but lacked real strategic or military talent. Of the
original crop of eighteen only Davout and Massena were in the first class
as military commanders, and of the eight later additions only Suchet
proved their equal. Partly this was Napoleon's fault, because he made
political appointments, and because he did not encourage independence
of mind nor school the marshals in the finer points of strategy and tactics.
marcin
(Marcin)
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